Quotes of the Day

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7 - 29 - 2010 - The more we try to do for our foreign protectorates, the more angry they get about what we try to do. As Congress passed $59 billion in additional war funding on Tuesday, not only are our wards not grateful, they’re disdainful.

Washington gave the Wall Street banks billions, and, in return, they stabbed us in the back, handing out a fortune in bonuses to the grifters who almost wrecked our economy.

Washington gave the Pakistanis billions, and, in return, they stabbed us in the back, pledging to fight the militants even as they secretly help the militants.

We keep getting played by people who are playing both sides.

maureen dowd (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"The charge of racism leveled by liberal organizations, whether black or white, is now regarded as the politically motivated falsehood that it is. It is rightly seen, along with its six siblings -- sexism, xenophobia, intolerance, bigotry, homophobia and 'Islamophobia' -- as the Left's way of avoiding argument by demeaning its opponents. . . . One day, the charge loses all its moral power. That happened this past year as a result of the liberal attacks on conservative opposition to Obama as racially based. Every conservative knows that opposition to the Obama and Democratic agenda has nothing to do with the president's color. Does any liberal honestly believe that if Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were president and pursued the same Leftist agenda Obama has, there would be less conservative opposition because Pelosi and Reid are white? So, something good has come of this: the de-fanging of the 'racist' label. It no longer intimidates conservatives as it once did." -- radio commentator Dennis Prager, writing on the NAACP's attack on "racist elements" of the Tea Party at RealClearPolitics.com. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 28 - 2010 - NYT's Eric Dash and Nelson D. Schwartz report on pg. B3: “[R]egulators reached a preliminary agreement Monday on new standards to reinforce the stability of the global financial system. Under the new requirements, banks would have to hold higher capital reserves and more cash on their balance sheets to cushion against unexpected shocks, though regulators have not specified a minimum amount. The rules, developed after lengthy negotiations among regulators on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, would not take effect for at least seven years. … A compromise was struck after private banks and regulators warned that raising capital standards too quickly could choke lending and economic growth. Bankers also fear that having to set aside more capital could reduce profits and ultimately result in lower bonuses for bank employees.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 27 - 2010 - "For minority applicants, the lower a family's socioeconomic position, the more likely the student was to be admitted. For whites, though, it was the reverse. An upper-middle-class white applicant was three times more likely to be admitted than a lower-class white with similar qualifications. . . . [O]ne of the study's more remarkable findings: while most extracurricular activities increase your odds of admission to an elite school, holding a leadership role or winning awards in organizations like high school R.O.T.C., 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America actually works against your chances. Consciously or unconsciously, the gatekeepers of elite education seem to incline against candidates who seem too stereotypically rural or right-wing or 'Red America'" -- New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, on a study of admissions policies at elite private colleges and universities. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 26 - 2010 - New York Times, “Industries Find Surging Profits in Deeper Cuts,” by Nelson Schwartz: “Many companies are focusing on cost-cutting to keep profits growing, but the benefits are mostly going to shareholders instead of the broader economy, as management conserves cash rather than bolstering hiring and production. Harley, for example, has announced plans to cut 1,400 to 1,600 more jobs by the end of next year. That is on top of 2,000 job cuts last year - more than a fifth of its work force. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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We once used to conduct a war on poverty. Now we just incarcerate the impoverished. In privately-owned, for-profit, jails, no less. David Michael Green (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 25 - 2010 - Joe Romm, climateprogress.org blogger: The best thing about improvements in health care is that all the climate-change deniers are now going to live long enough to see how wrong they were. (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Just weeks after the United States and the United Nations imposed new rounds of sanctions on Iran, Tehran's ability to ship vital goods has been significantly curtailed as some of the world's most powerful Western insurance companies cut off Iranian shippers out of fear that they could run afoul of U.S. laws, the insurers say. – Washington Post (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Conservative opponents of Iran's president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, have launched a rearguard action aimed at weakening him and preventing one of his hard-line followers from succeeding him in the next presidential election. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Iran's parliament approved a law on Tuesday calling on the government to retaliate against any countries that inspect the Islamic state's ships and aircraft or refuse to provide fuel to its aircraft as part of foreign sanctions, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. - Reuters (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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BY JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA, Wall Street Journal: “Colombia accused Venezuela on Thursday of providing sanctuary to some 1,500 communist guerrillas who have set up "summer camps" along the border, where they allegedly rest and feast while planning kidnappings and attacks on Colombia. Soon after, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez broke diplomatic relations with Colombia—the latest flare-up in a long-running feud between both Andean nations.” (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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7 - 24 - 2010 - The Hill's Kevin Bogardus and Andrew Stiles report: “The legislative maneuvering over healthcare reform and Wall Street regulation boosted the revenues of several lobbying firms during the first half of 2010, according to disclosure forms filed Tuesday. Patton Boggs, usually the top firm on K Street, reported earning $20.8 million in lobbying fees so far this year. That's a 12 percent increase over its performance at this point in 2009. … Washington's second-biggest lobbying shop, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, reported revenue of $18.2 million for the first half of the year, an increase of 13 percent from mid-2009. K Street is coming off a remarkably active legislative calendar. After President Obama signed the healthcare reform bill in March, lobbyists had to stay in high gear to keep tabs on the financial services reform legislation. With both pieces of legislation now complete, lobbying executives said they are expecting a slowdown in business for the rest of the year.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 23 - 2010 - Afghanistan's first major international conference in more than three decades concluded Tuesday with diplomats from around the world endorsing President Hamid Karzai's commitments to having Afghans in charge of security by 2014 and curbing government corruption well before that. – Washington Post (Submitted by MIchael Krull)

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U.S. Special Operations Forces have begun venturing out with Pakistani forces on aid projects, deepening the American role in the effort to defeat Islamist militants in Pakistani territory that has been off limits to U.S. ground troops. – Wall Street Journal (Submitted by MIchael Krull)

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Michael O’Hanlon [Brookings Institution] writes: [T]he region’s security remains troublingly uncertain. The stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan is at stake. So is the future of the India-Pakistan relationship, still the most likely place where two nuclear-armed states could wind up in war. A big new push is now needed with soft power — particularly on the economics front. - Politico (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Tim Sullivan writes: With a dynamic new commander now on the ground, however, and a civilian country team newly motivated by President Obama’s recent calls for improved “unity of effort,” the time has come for the United States to recommit to its civilian goals in Afghanistan and develop a comprehensive roadmap of its own for the critical four years ahead. – AEI’s Center for Defense Studies (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 22 - 2010 - The Obama administration on Thursday said it would bolster its support to the African Union troops providing much of the firepower in Somalia's battle against al Shabaab, the Somali militant group that has claimed responsibility for Sunday's deadly blasts in Uganda. – Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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If health care is any indicator, Obama only picks fights he's 100% sure he will win, and only after he gives the other side most or all of what they want.----from an online comment at Salon.com by mepe (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 20 - 2010 - Dodd-Frank no doubt contains some useful provisions--inevitably, in a 2,319-page bill. Overall, however, this law is like being invited to dinner and served pictures of food. - from an article in Forbes by James S. Henry is an economist, lawyer, and investigative journalist and former chief economist for McKinsey & Co. and Laurence J. Kotlikoff is a professor of economics at Boston University (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"[President Obama] lets the media get under his skin. I talked to someone who's been covering presidents a lot longer than I have, and they said they can't remember any president complaining as much publicly about the media in general since Richard Nixon. Bush and Clinton hated the media. They just never talked about it in public all the time" -- Chuck Todd, chief White House correspondent for NBC News, speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 19 - 2010 - USAToday's Paul Wiseman reports: “U.S. banks, hedge funds and other Wall Street firms are weighing whether to move more of their operations abroad now that Congress has toughened financial regulations at home. 'We've talked about it with a number of clients,' says Jeff Visithpanich, principal at Wall Street compensation adviser Johnson Associates. The new bill is creating 'a large administrative hassle. ... If you own a big hedge fund, there's very little reason you need to be in New York or Greenwich (Conn.).' … Once bankers have digested the 2,300-page legislation, the research firm CreditSights says, they are likely to conclude that the U.S. consumer market now offers 'less attractive returns and that growth abroad is much more favorable.'” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 18 - 2010 - CNBC reports: “Google shares dropped sharply in extended trading Thursday after the company reported a profit that failed to match what Wall Street hoped was coming, after a spike in expenses offset a 24 percent revenue jump. The report marked a rare stumble for a company accustomed to shattering financial expectations. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"I've never been a big poll guy," Brown said, literally one minute after quoting polls that about 70 percent of people in the Bay State supported the regulatory reform bill he voted for. "I just do my job. And whatever happens, happens." Mass Senator Scott Brown (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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7 - 17 - 2010 - "Obama warns Africans about Al-Qaeda," by AFP's Stephen Collinson: "President Barack Obama warned Africans that groups like Al-Qaeda saw their 'innocent' lives as cheap, in a personal challenge to extremists on the continent after the Uganda bombings. ... Obama, leveraging his African heritage and popularity on the continent, took direct aim at the Shebab and Al-Qaeda after attacks on crowds in Kampala glued to the World Cup final on Sunday killed at least 76 people. 'What you've seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself,' Obama told the South African Broadcasting Corporation." (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 16 - 2010 - Bloomberg's Kate Andersen Brower reports: “Obama met [Wednesday] with Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett to discuss the economy … Obama and Buffett discussed how to work with the private sector to stimulate growth and create jobs, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Buffett, 79, was an adviser to Obama's presidential campaign. The two men 'spoke about the economy in a fairly lengthy meeting,' Gibbs said. 'He wanted to come in and see the president and we don't turn down the opportunity to talk to Warren Buffett.' Obama also gave Buffett one of his ties because Buffett's was frayed, another White House aide said.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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The current crop of Senate Republicans are sticking to the same old storyline they've been pushing since the 1970s: Regulation is bad. Their awesome pigheadedness demonstrates a remarkable effort to be consistent in the face of all evidence provided by actual reality. The best thing about the passage of bank reform is that these troglodytes failed to stop it. Andrew Leonard staff writer at Salon (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 15 - 2010 - Erskine Bowles is one of the co-chairman of President Obama's deficit commission. He gained notoriety recently by revealing the fact that he had no clue as to the size of the country's deficit problem ... Some may wonder how much people get compensated for such extraordinary displays of ignorance. This is easy to answer. One of Mr. Bowles paying gigs is as a director of Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street investment bank that was rescued from bankruptcy by the taxpayers two years ago. Mr. Bowles gets $335,000 a year for that job. -Dean Baker (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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New York Times' Eric Lipton and Eric Lichtblau report: “The Office of Congressional Ethics has sent corporate donors and fund-raising hosts more than three dozen requests for documents involving eight members who solicited and took large contributions from financial institutions even as they were debating [Dodd-Frank], according to lawyers involved in the inquiry. The requests are focusing on a series of fund-raisers last December, in the days immediately before the House's initial adoption of the sweeping overhaul …

“Some of the fund-raising events took place the same days as crucial votes. For example, on Dec. 10, one of the lawmakers under investigation, Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, left the Capitol during the House debate to attend a fund-raising event for him hosted by a lobbyist at her nearby Capitol Hill town house that featured financial firms, along with other donors. After collecting thousands of dollars in checks, Mr. Crowley returned to the floor of the House just in time to vote against a series of amendments that would have imposed tougher restrictions on Wall Street.” [Crowley's office denied any wrongdoing] (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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“Analysts estimate that about 60 Democratic House seats are in jeopardy; Republicans need a net gain of 39 to claim the majority.” Paul Kane Washington Post (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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7 - 14 - 2010 - "[O]ne hypothesis [is that] Obama is taking the best deal on the table today, but hopes and expects that once he is re-elected in 2012 . . . he will build on the foundations laid during his first term to bring on the fundamental 'change' that is not possible in today's environment. This would be consistent with FDR's strategy during his second term and makes a kind of sense when one considers the nature of the opposition he faces today and the likelihood that it will discredit itself following a takeover of one or both houses in 2010. For that strategy to make sense, however, 2013 will have to provide a more pregnant sense of progressive possibility than 2009 did, and that will take a great deal of work by the rest of us" -- Eric Alterman writing in the leftwing magazine The Nation, on why the Obama presidency has been a disappointment to progressives so far. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Each of America’s two biggest economic downturns over the last century has followed the same pattern. Consider: in 1928 the richest 1 percent of Americans received 23.9 percent of the nation’s total income. After that, the share going to the richest 1 percent steadily declined. New Deal reforms, followed by World War II, the GI Bill and the Great Society expanded the circle of prosperity. By the late 1970s the top 1 percent raked in only 8 to 9 percent of America’s total annual income. But after that, inequality began to widen again, and income reconcentrated at the top. By 2007 the richest 1 percent were back to where they were in 1928—with 23.5 percent of the total. We all know what happened in the years immediately following these twin peaks—in 1929 and 2008. -Robert Reich (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7- 13 - 2010 - "I think likable is a word you have to think about a lot...If people believe their country is in trouble, they want a captain of the lifeboat, they don't want a fraternity brother." - Newt Gingrich as he "contemplates" a presidential bid (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Reuters reports: “The Obama administration declined to label China a currency manipulator in a long-delayed report … spurring fresh calls from U.S. lawmakers for tough new steps to pressure Beijing. … The U.S. Treasury's semiannual currency report, which originally was due on April 15, said China's yuan remains undervalued but noted Beijing had made a 'significant' move last month by ending a peg between the value of the yuan … 'What matters is how far and how fast the renminbi appreciates,' Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement issued with the report.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 12 - 2010 - Alarm bells would have sounded in Beijing June 28 when the Tomahawk-laden 560-foot USS Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. More alarms likely were sounded when the USS Michigan arrived in Pusan, South Korea, the same day. And the klaxons would have maxed out as the USS Florida surfaced the same day at the joint U.S.-British naval base at Diego Garcia, a flyspeck of an island in the Indian Ocean. The Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 additional Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood. - Time (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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The survey (at least from what we've seen of it so far) goes out of its way to avoid asking the troops about something which is arguably more relevant and which is certainly more measurable: their opinions about DADT. At no point, for instance does it pose the simple question of whether or not the solider thinks that DADT should be repealed. I'd have no huge problem if we asked our troops that; it would be up to our policymakers to weigh those findings against other factors. But the survey does not solicit the soldiers' opinions; instead, it solicits their speculation on the sexual preferences of their peers. In so doing, it insults their intelligence -- and ours. - Nate Silver (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 11 - 2010 - “My view of the labor movement today is that we got too focused on our contracts and our own membership and forgot that the only way, ultimately, that we protect our members and workers in general is by fighting for justice for everybody.”- Bob King new president of the UAW (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley declared the justices to be divorced from reality. 'They don't seem to appreciate the full scope of gun violence in America' . . . But really: Whose judgment about the value of guns to law-abiding citizens do you trust? Ordinary people defending their homes against criminals? Or a public official who is shepherded to work each day by police officers? The Supreme Court sided with Chicagoans who prefer not to be defenseless." -- Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman, on the Supreme Court's ruling requiring states and cities to recognize the Second Amendment. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 10 - 2010 - "For months now, the alarm bells have been sounding for President Obama. First there was the drop in support among independents. Then his precipitous drop in support among white voters. Now comes the predictable news that Wall Street donors, sick of being used as political punching bags, are no longer lavishing campaign funds on Democrats. But while these developments should be worrisome to the White House, they should be downright terrifying to congressional Democrats. Obama has time to right himself. For congressional Democrats, time has almost run out." -- Amy Walter, editor of the political tip sheet Hotline, writing in National Journal magazine. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 9 - 2010 - "Loaded weapons inside churches? Yeah, that doesn't pose a threat to kids. But well qualified and eager gay and lesbian adoptive parents? Hit the panic button." - MIchael Jones at Change.org from an article entitled: Guns to be allowed in Louisiana Houses of Worship (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." --John Marshall (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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“The United States has been like a customer who outspends his paycheck by receiving store credit. The store -- in this case, China, which buys vast quantities of U.S. Treasury bonds -- essentially funnels its profit back to the customer in the form of more credit. Everybody is better off for a while; the customer gets more stuff, and the store does more business.“ New York Times July 9, 2010 (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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7 - 8 - 2010 - Associated Press reports: “The world economy is recovering faster than expected but Europe's debt crisis has increased financial risks and governments urgently need to rebuild shaky public confidence, the [IMF] said Thursday. [IMF] raised its 2010 world growth forecast to 4.5 percent from 4.1 percent in April. Its U.S. growth forecast rose from 2.7 percent to 3.3 percent. … But in its quarterly World Economic Outlook , the IMF warned that 'risks have risen sharply' due to Europe's financial turbulence. It said European leaders need to act quickly to resolve debt problems and restore confidence in their banks.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"Of course committee members aren't too excited about it (Chairman Steele's latest gaffe), most Republicans aren't too excited about it, but it's going to be okay. He enjoys the broad support of the committee. We've got three things that concern us: big, fat, real, live elections in 120 days; raising more money than Dems; and winning." - anonymous RNC member (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 7 - 2010 - It’s no exaggeration to say (air conditioning) has changed the way this country functions, shaping everything from where we’re willing to live (Las Vegas, anyone?) to the amount of sex we have (more: It’s never too hot to get it on when the A.C. is blasting). Nine out of 10 new homes in this country are built with central air conditioning, and Americans now use as much electricity to power our A.C. as the entire continent of Africa uses for, well, everything. ...It’s pretty much unanimously believed that if we had not had air conditioning, we could not have had this huge migration of population from the North to the Sun Belt, and we certainly wouldn’t have seen 70 percent of all economic growth happening in the South since 1960. This has had major political implications by shifting electoral votes to predominantly red states in the South and West. In an imaginary world where air conditioning hadn’t been invented, it could easily be the case that many of the big Republican victories in the '90s and 2000s would not have happened. - Stan Cox from "Losing our Cool" (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Wall Street Journal: “States Struggle to Stem False Unemployment Claims,” by Joe Light: “[R]ecession-weary state labor departments are also now dealing with increased fraud. … Nearly $3 billion was likely lost to unemployment-insurance fraud nationwide in 2009, more than double the 2008 figure, according to early estimates from the U.S. Labor Department. Although the rate of fraud fell to 2.14% in 2009 from 2.8% in 2008, the overall jump in unemployment payments across the country-to $140 billion in 2009 from $48.6 billion in 2008-has resulted in sharply higher levels of funds lost to dishonesty.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 6 - 2010 - While the uproar set off by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s imprudent comments in Rolling Stone magazine has focused on the larger-than-life personalities involved, there is an important subtext: What does all this drama suggest about how the Pentagon and the State Department are sharing responsibility for the war in Afghanistan? – New York Times (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 5 - 2010 - Financial Times' Alan Beattie, James Politi, Kevin Brown and Geoff Dyer report: “Fears grew that the global recovery is faltering after a slew of data pointed to weaker global demand led by slower growth in China. Figures showed manufacturing output slowing across large parts of the world, posing further challenges to leading economies as they attempt to shore up shaky fiscal positions without falling back into recession. … The G20 meeting in Toronto was marked by concern in some quarters, notably the US, that overly rapid fiscal tightening would deprive the global economy of much-needed domestic demand.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand." Statement by Republican Candidate for the NH State House, Grafton County (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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7 - 4 - 2010 - One thing American businessmen have utterly lost sight of is the importance of providing employment. The focus on “maximizing shareholder value” when shareholders are on the very bottom of the liability side of the balance sheet, not merely legitimates but extols screwing other stakeholders to the extent management can pull it off (and management, suborned via stock-related compensation, has gotten very good at doing just that). By contrast, in Japan, entrepreneurs like Konosuke Matsushita are revered not because they got rich, but because they created good jobs for many people. Yves Smith (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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As the U.S. military draws down and Iraq opens up to foreign investment, China and a handful of other countries that weren't part of the "coalition of the willing" are poised to cash in. These countries are expanding their foothold beyond Iraq's oil reserves -- the world's third largest -- to areas such as construction, government services and even tourism, while American companies show little interest in investing here. – Washington Post (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 3 - 2010 - New York Times’ Mokoto Rich reports: “Factory owners have been adding jobs slowly but steadily since the beginning of the year … And because they laid off so many workers - more than two million since the end of 2007 - manufacturers now have a vast pool of people to choose from. Yet some of these employers complain that they cannot fill their openings. Plenty of people are applying for the jobs. The problem, the companies say, is a mismatch between the kind of skilled workers needed and the ranks of the unemployed. … [Employers] are looking to hire people who can operate sophisticated computerized machinery, follow complex blueprints and demonstrate higher math proficiency than was previously required of the typical assembly line worker.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it. ~Hubert H. Humphrey (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Richard Simon and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, reporting from Washington and New Orleans for the Los Angeles Times — "Hundreds of skimming boats prepared Friday to return to calmer gulf waters in the wake of Hurricane Alex and resume cleanup of the massive BP oil spill, which scientists now predict is likely to reach the Florida Keys and Miami in the months ahead.

Using computer simulations based on 15 years of wind and ocean current data, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Friday showing a 61% to 80% chance of the oil spill reaching within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, mostly likely in the form of weathered tar balls.

Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil — 81% to 100% — stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, NOAA scientists said in a statement on its projections for the next four months." (Submitted by Stan Brewer)

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7 - 2 - 2010 - Blackened Prawns - This is such a favorite with the guys on the rigs that the running joke is that our company was named after the dish! Believe me, you won’t have leftovers (but, if you do, they’ll last and last).

Ingredients: Prawns. If prawns are extinct, use chicken drumettes. Enough finely chopped garlic to overcome aroma

1. Coat prawns with garlic. If necessary, use glue gun.

2. Broil. Watch for flareups.

- Patricia Marx from her article The BP " I hate to Clean up" Cookbook (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"The Declaration of Independence [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man." --Thomas Jefferson (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." – Thomas Jefferson (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"[A] good moral character is the first essential in a man.... It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous." --George Washington (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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7 - 1- 2010 - POLITICO's David Rogers reports: “Congress is poised to go home for the July 4th recess, leaving millions of jobless workers in the lurch because of a continued Senate impasse over financing unemployment benefits. Democrats fell one vote shy of the 60 needed in the Senate Wednesday night to end debate, and by the time lawmakers return July 12, the government estimates that as many as 2 million workers will be without assistance. … But more than any other one issue, the impasse over jobless benefits has come to dramatize the Republicans' almost single-minded focus on deficit reduction as an economic-and campaign-theme this election year. Just two Republicans, Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, joined in support of an estimated $34 billion bill to extend benefits through November. Early hopes of getting help from Sen. Scott Brown were dashed Wednesday when the Massachusetts Republican went to the Senate floor with his own alternative - heavily reliant on cutting unspent funds from last year's giant recovery act.” (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 30 - 2010 - "The first [liberal] vice is the worship of presidential power: the belief that any problem, any crisis, can be swiftly solved by a strong government, and particularly a strong executive. A gushing oil well, a recalcitrant Congress, a public that's grown weary of grand ambitions - all of these challenges could be mastered, Obama's leftward critics seem to imagine, if only he were bolder or angrier, or maybe just more determined. . . . When Rachel Maddow fantasized last week about how Obama should simply dictate energy legislation to a submissive Congress, she was unconsciously echoing midcentury liberal theoreticians of the presidency like Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who often wrote as if a Franklin Roosevelt or a John F. Kennedy could run the country by fiat. (They couldn't)" -- New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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To be an American soldier today is to serve a people who find nothing amiss in the prospect of armed conflict without end. Once begun, wars continue, persisting regardless of whether they receive public support. President Obama's insistence to the contrary notwithstanding, this nation is not even remotely "at" war. In explaining his decision to change commanders without changing course in Afghanistan, the president offered this rhetorical flourish: "Americans don't flinch in the face of difficult truths." In fact, when it comes to war, the American people avert their eyes from difficult truths. Largely unaffected by events in Afghanistan and Iraq and preoccupied with problems much closer to home, they have demonstrated a fine ability to tune out war. Soldiers (and their families) are left holding the bag. -Andrew Bacevich (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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6 - 29 - 2010 - "With a rare exception or two, this 2,000-page bill nibbles at the toes of the problems that brought us the worldwide financial meltdown. It doesn’t go for the throat — its sponsors just pretend that it does." - Allan Sloan (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Reuters' Mark Felsenthal reports: "European leaders are committed to ensuring the survival of the euro and have enough money to meet obligations of heavily indebted member countries, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday... In remarks to the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Bernanke said a euro stabilization package of nearly $1 trillion was 'a lot of money' and enough to protect Greece, Portugal and Spain from volatile credit markets for a number of years. ... He also said the U.S. economy appeared to have enough momentum to avoid a 'double-dip' recession, citing strengthening consumer and business spending. ... However, Bernanke noted that the pace of recovery was moderate considering the depth of the recession, and unemployment would probably decline only slowly." (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 28 - 2010 - Wall Street Journal's Bob Davis reports: “The meeting's [G-20] concluding statement, a compromise between two competing visions of the international economy, masked divisions between the U.S. and Europe evident in the run-up to the summit. … With each side pushing, the U.S., and Europe cut what a U.S. official called a 'combo deal.' The U.S. agreed to make the goal of halving deficits a G-20 initiative, in exchange for G-20 support for language making growth the top priority, said a European official. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Last Friday, investors seemed to view the bill as positive for banks; an index of their stocks rose 2.7 percent on the day. That reaction is a bit of a mystery, given that higher costs, lower returns and capital raises lie ahead for financial institutions under Dodd-Frank. Then again, maybe investors are already counting on the banks doing what they do best: figuring out ways around the new rules and restrictions. -Gretchen Morgenson NY Times (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Writer Matt Taibbi described the investment bank as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Rolling Stone magazine. (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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6 - 27 - 2010 - Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the Aryan brown,

For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles and he weareth the Christian down;

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased,

And the epitaph clear:

"A Fool lies here,

who tried to hustle the East.” (Kipling) (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il shook up his country's leadership ranks in a move that appeared part of a broad strategy to consolidate his power before he passes control to his son. North Korea's official media said Monday that Mr. Kim installed his brother-in-law to a role considered the country's second-most-powerful. He also named a longtime family confidant to what is in effect the No. 3 position, the premiership. – Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Louisiana (Reuters) - The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is posing an uncertain threat to the Gulf of Mexico, even as efforts to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history are set to ramp up. (Submitted by Stan Brewer)

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6 - 26 - 2010 - Millions of American workers could discover that they no longer have employer-provided health insurance as ObamaCare is phased in. That's because employers are quickly discovering that it may be cheaper to pay fines to the government than to insure workers.

AT&T, Caterpillar, John Deere and Verizon have all made internal calculations, according the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to determine how much could be saved by a) dropping their employer-provided insurance, b) paying a fine of $2,000 per employee, and c) leaving their employees with the option of buying highly-subsidized insurance in the newly created health-insurance exchange. – John C. Goodman, Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"The 21st century economy is all about speed, access, intelligence and efficiency," Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said in announcing her latest round of restructuring. "A 21st century government needs to be about the same things." (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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6 - 24 - 2010 - The United States and Cuba have agreed to hold immigration talks in Washington within days, a U.S. official said, the first since a similar meeting in Havana in February. – Wall Street Journal (submitted by Michael Krull)

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Exciting news: Goldman Sachs, which has been in the toilet, brand-wise, for a year, is finally more popular than another corporation. With a score of -47.6 in the latest BrandIndex poll, BP is now semi-scientifically the most reviled company in the United States. - Alex Pareene (Salon.com) (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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6 - 23 - 2010 - "But the first thing you learn in PLDC [Primary Leadership Development Course] is that when you fail to correct a deficiency, you set a new standard. As a leader, McCrystal just demonstrated that it is okay for Soldiers to openly disrespect their superiors. If the Commander-in-Chief doesn't can him, that is the new standard." - Richard A. Smith (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Gardner Peckham writes: Public discussion of intelligence programs by the administration and Congress is not new, but has lately become so corrosive and harmful to our national interest that it must stop. The intelligence community needs to shut up and focus on its mission. For its part, Congress needs to stop showboating and revitalize its fading oversight function. – The American (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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“Given all the crises raining down on him, I don’t want Pres. Obama to have a nervous breakdown so I strongly believe that he should start smoking again.” Steffen Schmidt at the Fremont, Washington Fair where everyone smokes something.

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6 - 22 - 2010 - The American public feels it is drowning in red ink. It is dismayed and even outraged at the burgeoning national deficits, unbalanced state and local budgets, and accounting that often masks the extent of indebtedness. There is a mounting sense that taxpayers are being taken for an expensive ride by public-sector unions. The extraordinary benefits the unions have secured for their members are going to be harder and harder to pay.

The political backlash has energized the tea party activists, put incumbents at risk in both parties, and already elected fiscal conservatives such as Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Over the next fiscal year, the states are looking at deficits approaching hundreds of billions of dollars. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, estimates that this coming year alone states will face an aggregate shortfall of $180 billion. In some states the budget gap is more than 30%. – Mortimer Zuckerman, editor-in-chief, US News & World Report, in the Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"All money is created equal, but it doesn't stay equal. When wealth is acquired by the wealthy, it takes on unique properties it didn't have before. You could say it becomes more potent, shinier, even sexier. It's no longer boring like poor people's money. Bill Gates once showed me a quarter he took out of his pocket. It was mesmerizing." - Milton Bradley, University of Chicago Professor of Metaphysical Market Relations (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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6 - 21 - 2010 - “They say that Americans learn where foreign countries are by bombing them. Now it seems we are all learning about nature's circulatory systems by poisoning them.” from: The Gulf Oil Spill: A Hole In the World By Naomi Klein/ The Guardian (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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The United States and Cuba have agreed to hold immigration talks in Washington within days, a U.S. official said Saturday, the first since a similar meeting in Havana in February. – Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 19 - 2010 - "I think the problem here is this is an administration that, as Hillary Clinton famously pointed out, you may not want to have answer the 3:00 a.m. call. These are guys who have tremendous vision about legislative achievements and specific things like health care, going forward on immigration, those difficult issues . . . . But when it comes to the crisis, when it comes to the gulf oil spill, the wars, the recession, they feel as if it's being imposed upon them, rather than taking the helm. That's what Americans are sensing right here. . . . Are you able to handle a crisis in a convincing way that inspires confidence? And so far, the president hasn't done that." -- Juan Williams, an analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News, commenting on Fox News Sunday about President Obama's sinking approval ratings. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 17 - 2010 - "Something for nothing. It never loses its charm." – Michael Lewis (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Richard Grenell writes: It isn’t popular to say, but the world needs a strong America. The world needs an America that leads our allies and isn’t troubled by certain charges of hubris from elites on the Upper East Side of New York City or in capitals around the world. One thing is clear – Obama’s easy professorial attitude isn’t winning us votes. – Daily Caller (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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The attacks on Ali Rash and at least a dozen other Kurdish villages have continued for more than a month and have included a foray by Iranian tanks one mile into Iraqi territory. But they have elicited only a tepid protest from Iraq’s government, including the release of a statement pleading with neighboring countries to honor its borders. – New York Times (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 16 - 2010 - "[I]t is far from automatic that governments which have reduced deficits have been routinely not reappointed. Governments which have initiated thorough and successful fiscal adjustment policies have not systematically suffered at the polls. This has been especially the case when the electorate has perceived the sense of urgency of a crisis or in some cases in the presence of an external commitment. On the contrary fiscally loose governments have suffered losses at the polls." -- Harvard University's Alberto Alesina, in a paper that finds that governments that meet crisis-spawned political demands to slash spending are frequently rewarded with economic growth and reelection. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason." --Benjamin Franklin (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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Part One

"I'm offended by Eric Holder and the president also, their posture... It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race....The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race on the side that favors the black person in the case of professor Gates and officer Crowley." Iowa Congressman Steve King

Part Two

"He is one of those few politicians who really says what he thinks...One man's controversial is another man's truth." - Christopher Reed, an Iowa conservative activist, defended King. (Parts one and two submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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6 - 15 - 2010 - "Regulation of insurance concerns everyone. As Commissioner I will provide consumers protection and a fair and reasonably regulated marketplace. I am a dedicated public servant of 16 years seeking only to provide a stable Department, not use it for advancement to higher office." - Republican Brian D. FitzGerald from his statement in the official California voter guide

With just 43 words, FitzGerald (A veteran lawyer in the state Department of Insurance, whose spending was so scant he did not have to file an electronic spending report) is poised to pull an upset in insurance commissioner primary (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Government is acting like the last drunk at the party. Government is spending at an unprecedented rate, regulating the minutest areas of our lives, and strutting around as if it's solving problems as it creates them." -- bearish investment newsletter publisher Robert Prechter, quoted in BusinessWeek magazine. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 14 - 2010 - U.S. companies are holding more cash in the bank than at any point on record, underscoring persistent worries about financial markets and about the sustainability of the economic recovery.

The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that nonfinancial companies had socked away $1.84 trillion in cash and other liquid assets as of the end of March, up 26% from a year earlier and the largest-ever increase in records going back to 1952. Cash made up about 7% of all company assets, including factories and financial investments, the highest level since 1963. The Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 13 - 2010 - "Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused the European Union of pushing Turkey toward the East by its resistance to letting the mainly Muslim nation join the bloc, the closest any senior U.S. official has come to saying the West risks losing Turkey." – Marc Champion & Peter Spiegel, The Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"The high-wattage former Silicon Valley executives Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina won Republican primary elections Tuesday for two of the state's top jobs, governor and United States senator. Though neither candidate is particularly loved in socially left-leaning Silicon Valley, their political ascendancy in many ways signals the maturation of the high-tech industry and its growing interest in controlling its own fortunes by playing a political game it once rejected. ... Both Ms. Whitman and Ms. Fiorina are, in part, pitching the magic of Silicon Valley. They say they can bring the valley's inventiveness and efficiencies to a government that is swamped by debt and partisan gridlock." – New York Times’ Brad Stone (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 12 - 2010 - "BP could stand a $100 billion penalty and the stock price would be double what it is now" -- Oppenheimer stock analyst Fadel Gheit, on the political onslaught driving down BP's share price amid the Gulf oil spill. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"[Illinois GOP Senate Candidate Mark Kirk] has never been one to minimize his talents. . . . Kirk finds himself amazing and expects you to agree. But his resume inflation has given voters a powerful reason to abandon him in a race that should have been idiot-proof. This year is shaping up to be a Republican bonanza, Kirk is moderate enough to appeal beyond his own party, and his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has all the heft of a helium balloon. . . . By this point, the average Illinoisan, ordered at gunpoint to choose between the two, would reply, 'Shoot.'" -- Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman, on revelations that Rep. Kirk exaggerated his military record. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 11 - 2010 - “Windmills serve as a visible reminder of where energy comes from...Instead of looking at a smokestack you’ll be seeing structures that are tall but elegant and that interact with the natural environment to make clean energy.” Mark Rodgers, Cape Wind Communications Manager (Ten States Aim for Offshore Wind Boom in Alliance with Interior Department, Rutland Herald) (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Both parties are having civil wars with their Washington establishments. You are seeing it on the Republican side; you're seeing it on the Democratic side. The reality is, regardless of what party you are in, if you're an incumbent and it looks like the Washington establishment is backing you, you're in trouble. It's the wrong place to be this year." -- Democratic strategist and former Howard Dean adviser Joe Trippi, quoted in the New York Times. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"At this point, Democrats had hoped that voters would have warmed up to their health care reform package, that employment would be clearly bouncing back, and that they could have made significant inroads in calming the political waters that have been so turbulent over the last year. . . . In short, what Democrats needed to happen hasn't, and while Republicans have done little to help their own case, it doesn't matter because it's not about them. As in every other midterm election, it's never a referendum on the minority party; it's a referendum on the party in power. And as of now, that's not a good place for Democrats to be." -- political analyst Charlie Cook, writing at National Journal.com. (Submitted by MIchael Krull)

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"Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence." - Justice Joseph Story (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 10 - 2010 - "When the press goes on strike, the White House can talk about anything it wants -- new financial regulations, immigration reform -- but the press is interested in only one thing. In this case it's, When is the oil flow going to stop? How much damage is it doing? What is Obama doing about it?" -- George Mason University's Bill Schneider, writing at Politico.com that Barack Obama is in danger of being captured by the oil spill crisis the way Jimmy Carter was the Iranian hostage crisis. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 9 - 2010 - The White House has been an uncertain trumpet. The administration's reforms were too often too timid from the start and too readily compromised along the way." Robert Borosage, a co-director of the Campaign for America's Future (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"There's no question that people are almost as concerned about the deficit and government spending as about jobs. It is not just about the actual dollars -- it is a metaphor for wasted money and lack of discipline and long-term economic decline." -- Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, quoted in a Los Angeles Times story about Democratic Congressional candidates' efforts to defuse public anger about runaway spending. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 6 - 2010 - Iranian authorities have begun police patrols in the capital to arrest women wearing clothes deemed improper. The campaign against loose-fitting veils and other signs of modernism comes as government opponents are calling for rallies to mark the anniversary of the disputed presidential election, and critics of the crackdown say it is stoking feelings of discontent. – Washington Post (Submitted by Michael Krull)?

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?Human rights activists and supporters of the opposition Green Movement in Iran are increasing their calls on the United States and other countries to help Iranians access an unfiltered Internet by lifting sanctions and sharing key software and technology. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Submitted by Michael Krull)?

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?Iran is enriching nuclear material to higher levels as a backup plan because it fears it will not receive foreign fuel for a medical research reactor, Tehran's envoy to the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Wednesday. - Reuters (Submitted by Michael Krull)?

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?Editorial : From Bush to Obama, the U.S. strategy toward Iran has oscillated between naive and unserious. We now stand months from Iran reaching a nuclear breakout capability. Unless credible options to stop Iran are put on the table, the risk of violent confrontation with Tehran—instigated by Israel or not—rises with each day. – Wall Street Journal (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 5 - 2010 - "The President has been voting 'present' for most of the first five weeks of the [oil spill] disaster. It's not as if it's the first time Obama tried to avoid responsibility for an issue or refuse to show leadership. Many of us wrote extensively about Obama's pattern of avoidance during the election -- and suggested that Democrats try Obama in a lesser executive position first, such as Governor of Illinois, before nominating him for the top spot, in order to make sure he was up for the job. . . . Only those who willingly allowed themselves to be enchanted by charisma and public relations could possibly act surprised when inexperience leads to incompetence." -- blogger Ed Morrissey, writing at HotAir.com on President Obama's reaction to the Louisiana oil spill. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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If we need to reduce the deficit the best place to start is a financial speculation tax. A modest set of financial transactions taxes, like the 0.5 percent tax on stock trades in the United Kingdom, can easily raise $150 billion a year. This would go a long way towards addressing future budget shortfalls and it would raise money from people who can afford it: the Wall Street crew whose financial shenanigans led to the meltdown.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke recently suggested cutting Social Security because: “that’s where the money is.” That’s not true, the real money is on Wall Street. Let’s go get it. -Economist Dean Baker, Co-Director Center for Economic and Policy Research (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Ironically, this environmental disaster may doom any chance of getting a climate-change bill through Congress. . . . Expanded drilling, which is still in the Kerry-Lieberman proposal, was a crucial concession aimed at winning the support of moderate Republicans. Democrats are unlikely to support any bill that includes expanded drilling. Republicans are likely to block any bill that does not include more drilling, especially because they have the polls on their side." -- National Journal political columnist Bill Schneider on the political blowback from the BP oil spill. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"Glamour is a particular form of illusion. It's an illusion that tells a truth about the audience's desires, and it requires mystery and distance. During the campaign people projected onto Barack Obama whatever they wanted in a president or even in a country. Lying is usually a bad thing, but they would project onto him that he was lying about his positions because he secretly agreed with them: 'Anyone that smart has got to be a free trader at heart. He's just saying this to pander to those idiots. He can't really mean it.' . . . [T]here is always this capacity for disillusionment. People have projected so much of what they think, including things that are sort of impossible, onto a glamorous figure, that when any flaw shows up the glamour is dispelled and suddenly he becomes terrible." -- author and blogger Virginia Postrel, in an interview at Reason.com. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 3 - 2010 - Did you read the whole story about the Detroit pitcher losing the perfect game on the bad call? the quote at the end is stunning:

Galarraga told reporters that Joyce apologized to him after the game, adding that he had no instinct to argue the call. “He probably felt more bad than me," Galarraga said. Smiling, he added, “Nobody’s perfect.” (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Why were we drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place? . . . : Environmental chic has driven us out there. As production from the shallower Gulf of Mexico wells declines, we go deep (1,000 feet and more) and ultra deep (5,000 feet and more), in part because environmentalists have succeeded in rendering the Pacific and nearly all the Atlantic coast off-limits to oil production. . . .There will always be catastrophic oil spills. You make them as rare as humanly possible, but where would you rather have one: in the Gulf of Mexico, upon which thousands depend for their livelihood, or in the Arctic, where there are practically no people? All spills seriously damage wildlife. That's a given. But why have we pushed the drilling from the barren to the populated, from the remote wilderness to a center of fishing, shipping, tourism and recreation?" -- columnist Charles Krauthammer, writing in the Washington Post. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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6 - 2 - 2010 - "Democrats showed impressive party discipline in jamming cap-and-trade through the House in June and the health care bills in the House and Senate last winter. But that was then. Now the House Democrats are throwing up their hands on passing a budget resolution. Party stalwarts like Rep. Gerry Connolly of Northern Virginia aren't willing to cast a vote for the kind of deficits the Obama administration supports. We've seen this sort of thing before. In 2006, House Republicans, staring at negative poll numbers, weren't able to pass a budget resolution, either. A once disciplined party was transformed into an incoherent rabble" -- political analyst Michael Barone, writing in the Washington Examiner. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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The man who walked on water is now ensnared by a crisis under water. - Maureen Dowd (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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6 - 1 - 2010 - The global aspects of pollution require a more universal set of ethics.

It is not enough for one nation like the United States to simply tighten its own regulations after each disaster only to then import products from countries that don’t have such regulations. Oil spills in places like Nigeria might only increase if the US now ends offshore drilling without also cutting its oil use. Saving forests in the US without also helping other nations save theirs is only environmental NIMBYism – not real environmentalism.

Stewardship of the earth isn’t just an aesthetic imperative or a self-serving desire for sustainable use of natural resources. It is also a spiritual exercise in how people get along and define progress for their society. Christian Science Monitor Editorial (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"[President] Obama makes no secret of his disdain for the press. . . . In one sense, the press, or at least some members of the press, have only themselves to blame. Obama treats them with contempt because he knows that when big tests come, they've always been on his side. There's no reason for him to think they won't be there in the future. 'Most of you covered me,' he told the media elite at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Association dinner. 'All of you voted for me.' That's the attitude coming out of the Oval Office every day. Why does Obama do it? Because he can." -- Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, writing on President Obama's failure to hold a full-fledged presidential news conference since last July. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 31 - 2010 - "For three months, the White House has refused to say whether it offered a job to Representative Joe Sestak to get him to drop his challenge to Senator Arlen Specter in a Pennsylvania Democratic primary, as Mr. Sestak has asserted. But the White House wants everyone who suspects that something untoward, or even illegal, might have happened to rest easy: though it still will not reveal what happened, the White House is reassuring skeptics that it has examined its own actions and decided it did nothing wrong. Whatever it was that it did." -- reporter Peter Baker, writing in today's New York Times. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"Democracy is based on empathy, on people caring about one another and acting to the very best of their ability on that care, for their families, their communities, their nation, and the world. Government must also care and act on that care. Government's job is to protect and empower its citizens." George Lakoff (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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5 - 28 - 2010 - "If we cannot share every intellectual assumption that formed the minds of those who framed the charter, we can still address the constitutional uncertainties the way they must have envisioned, by relying on reason that respects the words the Framers wrote, by facing facts, and by seeking to understand their meaning for the living." David Souter describing the job of justices is to interpret the Constitution for modern times. (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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Palin has shown she still has the attention span of a hummingbird on a nectar jag. She does not do basic homework. Never has. The result is a string of endorsements for people whose lives are living contradictions of their stated philosophies. ...

As for the Palin brand, it seems to represent no consistent philosophy, no guiding principles, no remedial vetting. It stands for one thing — Palin — and in that sense, she does have a legacy, though it can only be measured in dollars. Timothy Egan from his article - The Palin Brand. (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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The American public feels it is drowning in red ink. It is dismayed and even outraged at the burgeoning national deficits, unbalanced state and local budgets, and accounting that often masks the extent of indebtedness. There is a mounting sense that taxpayers are being taken for an expensive ride by public-sector unions. The extraordinary benefits the unions have secured for their members are going to be harder and harder to pay.

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“Two recent Tea Party-backed candidates who had success in beating Washington-designated candidates are quite taken with the idea of repealing the 17th amendment. Ratified in 1913, it provides for the direct election of U.S. Senators.” By Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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“Three weeks ago Pres. Obama should have set up a “Gulf of Mexico White House” and moved down there to direct the fight against the oil spill disaster. His Harvard and Yale White House lawyers who seem clueless about what is going on in the Gulf should be fired and replaced with some shrimpers and Cajuns.” Professor Steffen Schmidt in his Des Moines Register blog.

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5 - 27 - 2010 - "Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds. At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.” USA Today (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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"Abe Greenwald writes: Kurdistan is bursting with everything the liberation of Iraq was intended to set free: pluralism, democracy, opportunity, and goodwill toward the U.S. But political realities in Iraq and America are bringing the first post-success phase of a free Iraq to an end. The future hangs on a few critical upcoming decisions in Baghdad, Kurdistan, and Washington." – Commentary Magazine (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 26 - 2010 - After watching Obama negotiate with the banks in 2008, then with Big Pharma and the insurance lobby during the healthcare debate, and now the Reps over immigration, I think Obama may be the worst negotiator on Planet Earth. His negotiating mantra seems to be "Premature Capitulation." - Guy Saperstein (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual -- or at least that he ought not to do so; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." --Samuel Adams (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 25 - 2010 - “Legitimacy has shifted to the side of the climate skeptics, and that is a big, big problem,” Ben Stewart, a spokesman for Greenpeace said at the meeting of environmentalists [in London]. “This is happening in the context of overwhelming scientific agreement that climate change is real and a threat. But the poll figures are going through the floor.” from a New York Times Article, May 24, 2010. (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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Fannie Maeand Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giants that are now wards of the government, are on their way to becoming the single-biggest cost to taxpayers from the financial crisis—ahead of the banks, auto makers, or even insurer American International Group.

But while Washington is on the cusp of enacting a broad revamp of the financial regulatory infrastructure, it's in no hurry to touch Fannie and Freddie.

"The administration has put it on the 'too hard' pile," says David Felt, a former senior lawyer at the companies' federal regulator who presided over the government takeover of the companies in 2008. “Fixing Fannie, Freddie, Is a Political Hot Potato.” Wall Street Journal, 24 May 2010-05-24 (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 24 - 2010 - And in the deep sea, strange things happen. Gas randomly forms solids. Materials behave unpredictably. In such conditions, we are no longer dealing with a complicated system, but with an essentially complex system...Very small factors … can create a large response. - Tadeusz Patzek, professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Texas in Austin (from the LATimes) (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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“Europe is so screwed!” Dr. Steffen Schmidt commenting on the new report that Europe cannot possibly sustain its generous social and medical services over the long run.

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5 - 23 - 2010 - "Rand Paul's view that the federal government should not have the power to force integration on private businesses — part of 1964's landmark Civil Rights Act — didn't get the attention of the national press until Wednesday, following interviews with NPR's Robert Siegel and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.” YahooNews. (Submitted by Steffen Schmidt)

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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." -- Winston Churchill (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"No one knows how much of BP’s runaway oil will contaminate the gulf coast’s marshes and lakes and bayous and canals, destroying wildlife and fauna — and ruining the hopes and dreams of countless human families. What is known is that whatever oil gets in will be next to impossible to get out. It gets into the soil and the water and the plant life and can’t be scraped off the way you might be able to scrape the oil off of a beach.

It permeates and undermines the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have permeated and undermined our political system, with similarly devastating results." - Bob Herbert (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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5 - 22 - 2010 - "Mr. Obama’s announcement of his new antimissile plan in September was based on the Pentagon’s assessment that the SM-3, or Standard Missile 3, had intercepted 84 percent of incoming targets in tests. But a re-examination of results from 10 of those apparently successful tests by Theodore A. Postol and George N. Lewis, being published this month, finds only one or two successful intercepts — for a success rate of 10 to 20 percent." - Review Cites Flaws in U.S. Antimissile Program By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

“The system is highly fragile and brittle and will intercept warheads only by accident, if ever.” Dr. Postol, a former Pentagon science adviser (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." – Winston Churchill (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"Republicans in Washington have breathlessly distanced themselves from Mr. Paul’s remarks, afraid that voters might tar them with the same extremist brush. But as they continue to fight the new health care law and oppose greater financial regulation, claiming the federal government is overstepping its bounds, they should notice that the distance is closing." NYTimes editorial (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen

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5 - 18 - 2010 - "The International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iran's missile development programme was expanding in tandem with its drive to acquire an atomic capability. The Sajjil-2 missile, with a range of 1,400 miles, was test-fired at the end of 2008 and will be ready for deployment in 2012. The weapon relies on solid fuel for propulsion, which means it has a short preparation time and can't be as easily deterred by a pre-emptive strike. Although the missile is initially likely to carry a conventional warhead, the development of similar missiles in other countries has been closely tied to a nuclear weapons programme. "Iran is the only country to have developed a missile of this reach without first having developed nuclear weapons," the report said. The missile would be capable of hitting Israel and parts of southern Europe depending on the size of the warhead." - Telegraph (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"We can't have a dead man walking" - US Senatorial Candidate Sestak (PA)

(Sestak said his opponent, five-term incumbent Arlen Specter, will be red meat in the fall for Republicans who feel betrayed after Specter switched parties last year to mount his first Senate campaign as a Democrat. Democrats are not passionate about Specter and independents do not trust Specter after he switched parties a year ago )- AP (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"It's going to have a huge impact on philanthropic giving across the whole nation. I have long-term legal commitments and I absolutely will honor those but I can't responsibly take on any new ones at this point in time until I see what the tax effect will be." -- billionaire philanthropist David Koch, on why the prospect of tax hikes necessarily inhibits charitable giving. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 16 - 2010 - During an event earlier Friday in Washington sponsored by an anti-abortion group, she challenged Republican women to help the GOP "take this country back" and elect anti-abortion lawmakers. She praised female leaders of the tea party movement and invoked the 2008 acceptance speech where she compared herself to a pit bull.

"You don't want to mess with moms who are rising up...If you thought pit bulls were tough, you don't want to mess with mama grizzlies." Sarah Palin (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"Foreign Policy Institute Policy Advisor John Noonan and Stuart Koehl write: The NPR and the new START agreement are both seen as first steps towards a drastically reduced nuclear force, seemingly without carefully considering the deeper strategic implications. While President Obama’s goal of a nuclear free-world appears noble, it could ultimately jeopardize the stability that has kept America safe for over six decades. We should proceed cautiously." – National Review Online (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 14 - 2010 - From a letter Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sent to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and others opposing the derivatives provision. From the letter: 'Forcing these activities out of insured depository institutions would weaken both financial stability and strong prudential regulation of derivative activities. ... In addition, foreign jurisdictions are highly unlikely to push derivatives business out of their banks. Accordingly, foreign banks will have a competitive advantage over U.S. banking firms in the global derivatives marketplace, and derivatives transactions could migrate outside the United States. ... I am concerned that section 716 in its present form would make the U.S. financial system less resilient and more susceptible to systemic risk.' (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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5 - 13 - 2010 - "The Tories had reinvented themselves as the new green party, assuring the nation they would rescue it from global warming, an outdated theme by the fall. They rightly campaigned on slashing spending and deficits. But they presented that with pledges to bring to their countrymen 'austerity' and 'sacrifice,' which was consistent with their new green persona. What was missing was a campaign focused on restoring prosperity and economic growth, not to mention liberty. People do not look forward with excitement to austerity and sacrifice. What the Tories needed to offer instead was a promising future of renewed prosperity and opportunity. This is the lesson Republicans and conservatives need to take from the British elections" -- policy analyst and entitlements expert Peter Ferrara, writing in Investor's Business Daily on the failure of British Conservatives to win an outright majority. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"[Obama has] rock star qualities. The eloquence, the magnetism, the great looks, the brilliance. But just as much, it's because when Barack Obama speaks, when he opens up his mouth, you know you're getting the real deal." Elena Kagen (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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5 - 12 - 2010 - From The Department of Corrections -- In our Saturday post about the California Democratic Party’s ad attacking Meg Whitman but masquerading as an “issues ad,” we described the abrupt ending to our conversation with CDP Chairman John Burton. Through his spokesman, Burton on Monday complained that he had been misquoted. Burton says he didn’t say “Fuck you.” His actual words were, “Go fuck yourself.” Calbuzz regrets the error. (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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"A few days ago, I was having breakfast with my wife, my 91-year-old mother-in-law and daughters, 17 and 13. On TV there was a news report about the financial situation in Greece. Out of the blue, my 13-year-old said, 'This is going to be us pretty soon.' I almost dropped my fork. This is an eighth-grader"

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely Republican presidential candidate, quoted by Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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According to James Barron in the New York Times, “If Elena Kagan is confirmed, the court will have four justices from New York City, the most in its history. Author Joan Biskupic said, “Kagan is so Manhattan, Scalia is so Queens, Ginsburg is so Brooklyn, and Sotomayor is so Bronx.”

“There is no “so, Nevada, Iowa” or “so Concord, New Hampshire!” justice on the court and that’s a very bad thing. It threatens the legitimacy of the court to its very core.” Steffen Schmidt, Prof of Political Science

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5 - 10 - 2010 - "The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife."

Thomas Jefferson (Submitted by Michael Krull)

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"The true socialism in America is in the housing market, whether it is the mortgage interest deduction (which allows people to buy bigger houses that require more public services) or federal & state insurance subsidies for people living in dangerous areas (such as the coast of Florida during hurricane season).

The same people who benefit the most from the federal government subsidization of their livelihoods are the first to call for the policies that result in J.K. Galbraith's "private opulence and public squalor."

Kenneth Truman (Submitted by Arnie Arnesen)

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3 - 4 - 2010 - “Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.”

Warren Buffet on getting advice on how to fix the system by asking Wall Street Bankers.

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3 - 1 - 2010 - "The only way insurers can remain profitable at all is by selling healthy people on policies that don't offer much coverage at all, while squeezing older, less healthy people remorselessly so they either pay for most of their care out of pocket or get priced out of the insurance market completely (thus becoming a burden for taxpayers). In short, this is an industry that acts as if it will have trouble making money unless regulators allow it to cover only injuries suffered by a young single male hit by an asteroid."

- Michael Hiltzik, LA Times article entitled, "What do we need health insurers for anyway?"

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2 - 28 - 2010 - "Bipartisanship is to U.S. politics what apple pie is to American folklore: a wonderful thing that was served up much more frequently in the old days."

Edward Luce

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2 - 26 - 2010 - "It is time to treat Wall Street like Main Street."

"Most of us just get up in the morning and do our jobs – jobs that for the most part are neither glamorous nor well paid. We take pride in jobs well done, and we celebrate people such as Sully Sullenberger who, after ditching his plane in the Hudson River, checked the cabin twice for remaining passengers before being the last to evacuate. As he explained: “I was just doing my job.” (A month later, his pay was cut by 40 per cent and his pension was terminated.) The New York City firefighters on September 11 and the troops who stormed Omaha Beach just did their jobs. Most peoples' work is not as dramatic and involves less risk, but these are role models we admire. Why then, we ask, do traders and bankers need outsize bonuses and performance pay to get them to do their jobs?"

From an article by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton in The Financial Times

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2 - 25 - 2010 - "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

~Theodore Roosevelt

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2 - 24 - 2010 - "Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving."

~Albert Einstein

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2 - 24 - 2010 - "We trust the White House"

"Several hospital lobbyists involved in the White House deals said it was understood as a condition of their support that the final legislation would not include a government-run health plan paying-Medicare rates...or controlled by the secretary of health and human services. 'We have an agreement with the White House that I'm very confident will be seen all the way through conference', one of the industry lobbyists, Chip Kahn, director of the Federation of American Hospitals, told a Capitol Hill newsletter...Industry lobbyists say they are not worried [about a public option.] 'We trust the White House,' Mr. Kahn said." (NY Times August 13, 2009)

Mr. Kahn works for "For Profit Hospitals"

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2 - 23 - 2010 - “The American Revolution was a beginning, not an end. The real equivalents today of the American revolutionaries are those who view the republic, not as an 18th-century utopia to be restored with archaeological exactitude, but as a work in progress to which every generation of Americans can contribute.”

Michael Lind is policy director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation.

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2 - 22 - 2010 - "Barack Obama...I'm sorry to say (is) proving my assertion that Republicans lead in the wrong direction and Democrats are unable to lead in any direction at all."

Former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chaffee

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2 - 19 - 2010 - St. Augustine’s plea, “Lord, give me chastity, but not just yet.”

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2 - 18 - 2010 - Opening speaker's first line: "Welcome to the vast right wing conspiracy!"

Cleta Mitchell of American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC. Big cheers.

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2 - 17 - 2010 - “There isn’t a single sitting member of Congress — not one — that doesn’t know exactly where we’re headed. And to use the politics of fear and division and hate on each other — we are at a point right now where it doesn’t make a damn whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican if you’ve forgotten you’re an American.”

Former Senator Alan Simpson

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2 - 16- 2010 - "It’s certainly true that when it comes to finances, California is the new Mississippi — the place that all the other states are glad to have around because it means that they can’t come in worse than 49th."

-from: There’s Always California by Gail Collins

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2 - 15 - 2010 - “I am not a crazy person,” she said. “I know we have to fund government.”

- Republican Candidate for Governor of Texas Debra Medina defending her plan to replace property taxes with a sales tax (it requires sales taxes of up to 15 percent).

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