Breaking E News The Truth in Hollywood Gossip

Breaking E News The Truth in Hollywood Gossip

If there is anything in Hollywood that never gets old it is gossip. People are after the celebrities and artists about anything and everything they do. It does not matter who you are, if you are in Hollywood and you have been on television or in theaters you are going to be one of those individuals who falls into the realm of gossip.

Almost everyone in Hollywood at some point in time has been tagged as having secrets or rumors started about you. It might be the truth however it might very well be a lie as well. Or it could be the truth so badly twisted that it is an exaggeration. Regardless, of what it is Hollywood gossip will never change. It is too important in the eyes of those who sell the stories or tell someone about you. From tabloids to other magazines and even via the Internet Hollywood gossip is so powerful sometimes it will even break the person who is being talked about.

And then there is the paparazzi that take photos and sell them to different people or places and the gossip is added to the photo no matter what the photo might be of. By the time it hits the streets in many situations it is a rumor or a far fetched lie. Usually the truth about a celebrity is only told if it is bad news. For example if a celebrity is caught shoplifting or gets a DUI if these things are true you can bet they will be brought out into the open.

But the good news is many times the press helps to clear up rumors and lies about celebrities, but they have to go to great lengths in order to sift through the lies and rumors to get the truth told. In some cases there is no truth in Hollywood gossip, they are just circulating rumors that grow immensely down the road. And in these instances the celebrity could be in real mayhem because they are not telling the truth or at least the whole truth when they write their stories. The public wants to know about his or her favorite celebrity and if there is gossip about that celebrity then the fans want to know about that too. Good or bad Hollywood gossip is here to stay as long as there are celebrities to gossip about.

Interested at hollywood gossip? Visit this celebrity and movie news website featuring the latest movies, movie reviews and entertainment info from Hollywood or talk about the latest celeb rumors and gossip at celebrity forum.

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The Art Of Darkness - Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket

 

"War is hell," the cliché proclaims, but it seems to be entertaining hell. Along with other ghastly subjects such as murder and vampirism, war ranks among the most popular and commonly used subject matter of filmed entertainment, and no war has yielded more or better films than the one in Vietnam between 1955 and 1975. Whether detailing the effects of the war by studying its aftermath or getting right into the heart of the battles, the Vietnam War has proven to be a source of boundless interest for filmmakers and moviegoers alike. Perhaps it is the moral ambiguity of Vietnam that makes it the most interesting war for film adaptations, and no films illustrate this ambiguity better than Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987).

Apocalypse Now was the first and still, arguably, the best film to take place in the midst of the war itself, shot shortly after its ending in the mid-'70s and released on the brink of the Reagan era in 1979. Inspired by Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, Coppola and screenwriter John Milius supplant the metaphorical journey of its central character from 1890s Africa to the Southeast Asian jungle of the 1960s. Intimately tied to this shift in viewpoint is that, while Heart of Darkness's narrator, Charlie Marlowe, begins as a sane and stable man who faces madness and the inherent evil of mankind in the form of Mister Kurtz, Apocalypse Now's narrator, Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen), has already been driven at least to the verge of madness by his previous Vietnam experience before the beginning of the film. This change of perspective suggests that morality and sanity had become much more tentative and ambiguous in the time of the Vietnam War.

At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival premiere of the film, Coppola stated that "My film is not about Vietnam; my film is Vietnam." We are thrust into a world of madness with no moral center, an apt vision of conditions in the Vietnam War. This intention is evidenced not only by the chaotic and violent nature of the entire film, but also in the decision to make the story's narrator a madman, thereby depriving the viewer of a more traditionally relatable gateway into the film's story.

Just as the film itself "is Vietnam" in macrocosm, three of its central characters also are Vietnam in microcosm: Willard, Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) and Captain Kilgore (Robert Duvall). Willard has been in the jungle so much it has become who he is; in the film, he says of Vietnam: "When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle." Kurtz and Kilgore are two sides of the same coin, the soldier gone mad from the madness of war. Kilgore is the joyful madman who revels in battle ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning," he says in one of the film's most famous scenes. "Smells like victory") and has managed to keep a tenable position in the military despite randomly decimating entire villages, to the tune of Richard Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyries," for the sole purpose of clearing a neighboring beach so that he and his men can go surfing. Critic Michael Wood, in his article "Bangs and Whispers" from the October 1979 New York Review of Books, asserts that Kilgore should have been the Kurtz figure of the film, a man so flamboyantly insane that he provides a clear counterpoint to Sheen's Willard, but the closer similarities between Willard and Brando's Kurtz hint at a metaphorical journey of Willard into himself, into the darkest reaches of his own soul, that echoes his literal journey downriver to Kurtz's lair. When he completes his assignment by killing Kurtz, he has perhaps silenced the encroaching darkness in his own heart.

Apocalypse Now's overall vision of madness - from Willard to Kilgore to Kurtz, along with fascinating side characters such as Sam Bottoms's LSD-abusing surfer/soldier and Dennis Hopper's fanatical photojournalist - paints a disturbing picture not only of the Vietnam experience, but of all humanity in a world that made the atrocities of Vietnam possible. As Coppola himself says about the making of the film in Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola's 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, "We were out there with too much equipment, too much money and too much time... and we all went a little insane," which can be seen as an astute criticism of America's position in the war itself. Ultimately, Apocalypse Now is more than merely a war film, which may be why many critics consider it the best war film ever made, and perhaps even the greatest American film of any kind.

Full Metal Jacket has also been "acclaimed by critics around the world as the best war movie ever made," according to Warner Home Video Inc.'s 1990 video release of the film. Though it could be argued that Apocalypse Now is a greater cinematic achievement, it is less tenable to say that it is more true-to-life. Apocalypse Now is highly stylized and subjective, while Full Metal Jacket has a distinct documentary feel, despite its often stunning cinematography and use of stylistic devices such as slow-motion. These approaches reflect the background of each director: Kubrick began with documentaries like "Flying Padre" (1951), while Coppola got his start at B-movie producer Roger Corman's American-International Pictures.

Full Metal Jacket's more objective, realistic perspective also reflects the point-of-view of its protagonist and narrator, Private Joker (Matthew Modine), who goes through Marine training to become a field reporter in Vietnam. Though Joker is a much more sane and rational character than Willard, he too is deeply corrupted by his experience, as he becomes more and more cynical throughout the film. As Joker says at one point in the film, in the persona of John Wayne, "A day without blood is like a day without sunshine." This cynical loss of innocence is a cohesive underlying theme in the film, which, like Apocalypse Now, is a journey into the heart of darkness. This is established in the opening sequence, which shows its various characters having their heads shaved, set to the tune of Johnny Wright's "Hello Vietnam." Full Metal Jacket is, essentially, a coming-of-age story - albeit a very brutal one - that is divided into two self-contained, but connected, stories within the film.

The first story thrusts the viewer into the rigid, violent life of Marine training camp and, though Joker is established as the protagonist from the start, the central character of this first story is actually Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio). Leonard, dubbed "Gomer Pyle" by sadistic drill instructor Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), is a classic schoolyard bully's victim: overweight, slow-witted to the point of mild retardation, highly vulnerable and prone to crying under duress. Hartman, as a drill instructor, has made a career of being a bully, and the two immediately fall into this dynamic, with Hartman repeatedly choking, slapping and humiliating Leonard throughout the film. This story arc is easily broken into three acts: Leonard's humiliation, Leonard's education, and Leonard's revenge. Ironically, the completion of Leonard's education is the point at which he goes mad from the humiliation and abuse he has suffered at the hands of Hartman as well as the other recruits. Leonard finally snaps when Joker shows his first sign of corruption: after befriending Leonard and helping to educate him, Joker ultimately takes part in a ritualistic beating of Leonard after he and the other recruits are punished for Leonard's transgressions. At this point, the story moves into its third act, in which Leonard takes revenge on the bullying Sgt. Hartman, whose last words are more unrepentant bullying: "What is your major malfunction? Did your Mommy and Daddy not give you enough love when you were young?" Ultimately, though, Leonard forgives Joker and spares his life before taking his own.

The title of the film comes from this first half, in a soliloquy Leonard gives for his rifle, which represents to him a measure of cleanliness and order in the "world of shit" in which he exists. This basically sums up the theme of the film, which is also indicated in its two-part structure: no matter how disciplined and structured a warrior's training and weapons may be, the war itself is still chaos. This chaos runs rampant in the second half of the film, in which Joker finds himself in the midst of combat, at first as an outside observer reporting what he sees, but ultimately having no choice but to participate in the violence all around him. Like Apocalypse Now's Willard, Joker is somewhat on the fringes of combat, but still deeply effected and corrupted by it; while Willard is a hired killer working outside the main conflict of the Vietnam War, Joker is in the midst of this conflict but, in the beginning at least, does not participate in any killing.

Both films touch on a subject that is mostly avoided or neglected in war films: that of sexuality in wartime. Between Apocalypse Now's aborted Playboy Bunny visit early on in the film and Full Metal Jacket's Vietnamese prostitutes in the second half, both films eloquently illustrate the assertion so eloquently voiced in Chris Hedges's 2002 memoir of wartime journalism, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, that "there is in wartime a nearly universal preoccupation with sexual liaisons." The undercurrent of rape and coercion present in both cases points toward the moral ambiguity of this type of sexuality, which, by extension, shows the questionable morality of war itself.

This ambiguity is also seen in the journeys undertaken by the central characters of each film. In Full Metal Jacket's second story, Joker is given a mission by his commanding officer, Lt. Lockhart (John Terry), which leads him into the heart of darkness, where he faces the ultimate corruption of his own heart (a microcosm for humanity as a whole) when he kills a young female sniper (Ngoc Le) at the end of the film. Like Willard's assassination of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, this killing is an act of obligation, but both occupy the morally uneasy ground of vengeance; Kurtz's assassination is a cold, detached act of military revenge, while Joker's platoon collectively kills the sniper in a more heated, personal retaliation for her murder of their fellow soldiers. These differing perspectives are reflected in the tone of each film: Full Metal Jacket is a more visceral and real experience than the highly stylized Apocalypse Now.

Full Metal Jacket ends as it begins, with Kubrick's impeccably appropriate musical cues. The diegetic singing of the "Mickey Mouse Club Theme" by the platoon in the film's final shot brings the coming-of-age full circle, and the Rolling Stones's "Paint It Black" over the end credits perfectly mirrors Joker's closing narration: "I am in a world of shit, but I am alive, and I am not afraid." He has clearly reached the heart of darkness; the only remaining ambiguity is whether his lack of fear is a result of his succumbing to the madness of war.

To this day, wars continue to inspire films of varying quality. As long as the world continues to be colored in shades of gray, rather than black and white, the most successful art will always reflect this with a degree of moral ambiguity. Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket have paved the way, and it is to be hoped that future artists will find it, though it is doubtful that any can surpass the artistry of these two great films.

Contact the Author: EzraStead@MoviesIDidntGet.com

Ezra invites you to visit 'Movies I Didn't Get' for latest news in indie film. For more information, reviews and comments check out the fastest growing indie film blog: http://www.moviesididntget.com

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Breaking E News 40 minutes when the lights

The crowd that gathered on that day was, in our view, the largest we've seen in a matinee years. At first the audience was by some who have already asked the young U.S. may last to see the original silent film. A few minutes later, the theater filled with young students, up to a couple of teenagers. It was clear that this film was not only an attraction for all ages, but the audience from all walks of life.
Preparing for a long boring hours and 40 minutes when the lights went out, I clung to my seat thinking about opening my laptop and do some work while the drum rolls. Only moments in the film, I was deeply immersed in the amazing story of finding humor in combination with a small amount of drama and dialogue.
Jack the Dog (Uggie) is a hit. He has a few scenes, and each of them, he dominated the actors. At age 10, went Uggie their prime, but pulls everything possible to showcase their strengths. Dogs and children are the most difficult to work in accordance with WC Fields. Nevertheless, it is a natural Uggie, stealing scenes as the actors play second fiddle to understand how good he is.
Owner Jack, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), based on his comfort, his career took a downward spiral, and then when you boot from the woman. After a great shot for many years on the silent film, George is now time to stop the sound of life. This will be what he explore how change is that there is a small part in. His star in the mentality of the borders of the occupied godlike status. Among his sweetness escape in abundance, in small quantities rain.
Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) stood next to George on the red carpet while the paparazzi snaps. One photo in particular is a big hit on the cover of vanity with the headline read: "Who is this girl?". Later, while listening to the position of a dancer, she said, George, the requirements of the studio boss in the movie studios make graph to rent Pippi in the following presentation function.
Some time later, after hard work and determination, Pippi begins on the rise, working non-stop schedule. Pippi career starts, during the life of George on the screen slide down to grow. This movie will touch your heart while entertaining fights of timely collection of humor. Watching these two characters in different phases of their lives intersect each is to the faith of those who struggle every day to do, what do they give you, whether it be a doctor, an athlete, an accountant, politicians, musicians and actors be.
Was combined shooting in black and white, with the approach of the story as if it were said in the midst of the silent era, moves easily in public. Most viewers have not seen silent films, so the expectations are very high, but this is not the cause, it's a great movie. The quality of the casting director for a better cast, and the actors leave the stage after each question is the basis for the size of the film. Scores dead throughout the film. The songs worked perfectly in the dance numbers, choreographed by both together formed. The artist will surpass all expectations and raised the bar in the industry for many years.

Call your wife the c-word and you don't get to diss the "war on women"

Here's John McCain claiming that the "war on women" is poppycock.

Here's more on John McCain's own alleged war on women:



(The un-bleeped version is here.)

As ThinkProgress shows in this video, clearly the GOP doesn't have a problem with women.

Krugman calls out Ben Bernanke—"he's been assimilated by the Borg"

This is another state of the Krugman post. You and I, flies on the insider walls, know that Ben Bernanke is a full professor at Our Betters U. — in other words, deeply involved in running his chunk of the State for the lords and ladies who govern us. Like all retainers Bernanke works for a living, but as Chairman of the Fed he's very high up.

Paul Krugman is now acknowledging the same thing, and becoming less and less collegial in the process. Why do I say "less collegial"? Because Krugman and Bernanke are fellow academics; in fact, Bernanke used to be Krugman's boss at Princeton.

As you read the following, remember that the Fed has twin legal mandates — low inflation (for the money crowd) and low unemployment (for the masses). In reality, of course, the Fed works only for the money crowd, keeping their pockets lined.

Krugman recently called him on that in the magazine piece linked below, and Bernanke has responded. As Krugman tells the tale [bracketed inserts mine]:

Ben Bernanke responds to my magazine piece; as I see it, in effect he declared that he has been assimilated by the Fed Borg:

I guess the, uh, the question is, um, does it make sense to actively seek a higher inflation rate in order to, uh, achieve a slightly increased pace of reduction in the unemployment rate? ...

To risk that asset [by "asset" he means "low inflation," though he's actually referring to the money crowd's well-lined pockets], for, what I think would be quite tentative and, uh, perhaps doubtful gains [by "gains" he means "work and food for the masses"], on the real side would be an unwise thing to do [because the world is ruled by "wisdom" and not, say, "greed"].

Notice the framing — “a slightly increased pace of reduction in the unemployment rate”. It’s basically an assertion that we’re doing all right[.] ... Disappointing stuff.

In other words, Bernanke is saying, Why trade a known-bad like inflation for something as ephemeral as improved employment? After all, my friends are fully employed right now.

So much for Bernanke. But again, this post isn't about the Ben — he's a known made man already. This is about the Krugman, who dares to say so using his Times blog-inches.

Thanks, Professor. And welcome. Soon you'll be as radical as you were in 2003, when Bush was king and we were still naïve.

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)

Good morning from Stockholm

A nice park through the center of the boulevard. People
walking to work in the morning.

I was invited to the Netroots Sweden conference in Stockholm that starts today, and the Swedes are graciously picking up the tab for the trip.  I'll be doing three talks about various political Internet topics, basically explaining to the Swedes the kind of advocacy I/we have done here in the states.  They've have a very good nascent blogosphere/Netroots.  The challenge now is how to lift it to the next level.

Stockholm is a nice city.  Pretty in its own right, but in a subtle way at places. It's a different city.  Different from a lot of other towns I've been in, architecturally.  Really a mix of influences, from my point of view.  As I've noted on previous trips, some of the architecture makes me think of St. Petersburg in Russia, some of it brings back memories of Rome with the striking reds and oranges and yellows of ancient Rome that are still favored by modern Romans.

A quick word about the Swedes.  Truly the tallest people on the planet.  Good God.  In America, at 5-10, I often feel average height, to maybe a little short at times.  Here I'm a midget.  It's not at all unusual to see guys well over, and I mean WELL over, 6 feet tall and then some.  Just a very tall people, and healthy, skinny, good-looking, but not all blonde.  Though certainly more blondes than you see in America.  They're a nice people, good English of course.  Rather mild-mannered.  You even see it in the way they walk down the street (I tend to notice the gait of different cultures).  For men at least, very unassuming, regular guy, and seemingly happy.

Sweden is also shockingly expensive for an American. The cab ride from my hotel to my friends' office, which is about ten minutes away, is $30. A hamburger in many places is $25. Want a mojito, try $20. Hell, I was looking at a dog toy in a pet shot, a cute little ball with a hole in it that you can put food... $50.  My friends tell me that Sweden is not known for its food.  And while it's not exactly England (i.e., it's better than that), it's also not quite France or Italy in terms of culinary expertise and tastes.  But you can still get a solid meal, if you can afford it :)

Anyway here are a few photos from around town.  Enjoy.

Sasha the night before my trip, looking like
she knows something is up.

PS Sorry I've been blogging a bit less this week, but now that Google has launched Blogger's new interface, which is incompatible with both the iphone and the ipad, I'm only able to blog when I have my computer with me, which limits things greatly.  We're planning to finally move to WordPress.  It was a great 8 years with Blogger, but this latest upgrade was such a step backwards, we really have no choice but to move.

Take the iphone app (please), which is the fall-back for mobile blogging - it's a joke.  It doesn't even let you schedule posts, or worse, unpublish them (your only option is to delete them). It also doesn't show posts that are already scheduled, so you have no idea if you need to post something at all.  Seriously not ready for prime time.  I've said before, whoever approved this new Blogger Web site, and didn't see a problem with it being incompatible with the iphone and ipad - who builds a web site in 2012 that doesn't work on the iphone and ipad? - should be fired.  Same goes for whoever built the iphone app (and whoever approved it).  Google, and Blogger, are better than this.  At least they used to be.

Now on to Stockholm...

Interesting architecture.

Even more interesting architecture.  Note the black clothing.  If
you ever come to Sweden, bring your black and navy
blue clothes.  Anything else and I feel
out of place.

Stockholm has wonderful light. I've noticed it
in previous trips as well. A very mid-winter's shocking
yellow/orange.

A night view of Stockholm from restaurant suspended on
a walkway far above the city.

A rather large park in the middle of town. And of course
it's safe to walk through at night.

A large, cool, school near my hotel.  Some of the architecture makes
me think of the old Soviet, fascist architecture.  Not in a bad
wal, per se - it's just the strength, and imposing nature
of some of the buildings, like this one.

People cycling to work.  More dark clothes.

Sasha doing her best to thwart my packing.

Romney foreign policy concerned about country that doesn't even exist

Romney's foreign policy expert on a call today expressed concerned about President Obama's policies concerning Czechoslovakia.  And he should be concerned, as Czechoslovakia ceased existing nearly 20 years ago.

Obama to make climate change a campaign issue

Hmm. I think some would have liked the President to make climate change an issue before the campaign.

President Barack Obama says the amount of money poured into fighting the scientific consensus on climate change will push the issue into the presidential campaign.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published Wednesday, Obama also says he's worried about the lack of international progress to address global warming and believes that is tied to frustration with the Keystone XL pipeline.

Romney ran to the right in the Republican primary on global warming, saying in October that the causes of climate change are unknown.

"My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet," Romney said at a fundraiser last fall. "And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us."

This is all well and good. But I do think the President treated climate change like he treats, or treated, any controversial issue. He didn't push very hard, and then walked away and blamed failure on how strong the opposition was, without ever really trying to beat the opposition.

Murdoch blames everyone else for hacking problem

Now here's some classic leadership skills for you by Rupert Murdoch. Either he's a completely clueless executive and should be sacked immediately for having no idea what has been happening within his organization for years or he's a liar. You choose.

It's gutless to blame everyone else and fail to accept responsibility as the CEO but this is Murdoch that we're talking about. How could it be possible to have so many hacking scandals within the News Corp organizations - allegedly across borders as well - yet he knew nothing about it? How weak to suddenly be the tough guy.

With wife Wendi and son Lachlan watching he said that he, his son James and other senior News Corp executives were “misinformed and shielded” about the extent of phone hacking at the tabloid. He also blamed “a clever lawyer” at News International for stopping people coming forward and admitted that the culture had left too much in the hands of the editor and lawyer. “I should have gone there and thrown all the lawyers out of the place and seen Mr Goodman (the reporter jailed over phone hacking) one-on-one - he had been an employee for a long time - and cross-examined him myself and made up my mind, maybe rightly, maybe wrongly, was he telling the truth,” Murdoch told the court. "And if I had come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth, I would have torn the place apart and we wouldn't be here today.

Obamacare making insurers pay $1.3 billion in rebates to customers

Sounds like socialism.

Where do I get some?

Wash Post's Kaplan for-profit college division was an ALEC member

Well, this is starting to get interesting. All the spotlight on ALEC is really paying off. This is not only a Washington Post story, it's a for-profit college industry story. (Our ALEC backgrounder is here.)

David Halperin at the amazing Republic Report (my emphasis and some reparagraphing):

Republic Report has learned that the Washington Post Company’s Kaplan for-profit college division, was, last year, a member of the controversial business advocacy group the American Legislative Exchange Council. Other major for-profit education companies also joined ALEC.

Republic Report has obtained a July 2011 document showing Kaplan Higher Education and other for-profits as members of ALEC’s Education Task Force. This morning, in an email message to Republic Report, Mark Harrad, Vice President of Communications at Kaplan, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Washington Post Company that includes Kaplan Higher Education, wrote, “A unit of Kaplan was a member of ALEC for a one year period, which ended in August 2011.”

Remember that ALEC's role in "education" is what drew the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ALEC as well. Stripping down public education and feeding on the bones must be a major ALEC attraction. Here's Halperin on this:

For-profit colleges are the ultimate special interest. Many receive around 90 percent of their revenue from federal financial aid, more than $30 billion a year, and many charge students sky-high prices.

In recent years, it has been fully documented that a large number of these schools have high dropouts rates and dismal job placement, and many have been caught engaging in highly coercive and deceptive recruiting practices.

Yet when the bad actions of these predatory schools got publicly exposed, the schools simply used the enormous resources they’ve amassed to hire expensive lobbyists and consultants, and to make campaign contributions to politicians, in order to avoid accountability and keep taxpayer dollars pouring into their coffers.

We reported over a year ago on for-profit colleges — "For-profit colleges fight back against gov’t attempt to make them deliver education". A great many are simply vultures. Doubt me? Click and read.

Because ALEC specializes in enacting law at the state level, it makes a perfect place to end-around state investigation into their predatory business model:

Much of the action on for-profit colleges takes place at the federal level, where the money comes from, but states are increasingly taking an interest in protecting their residents from predatory practices – through accreditation of schools, investigations of fraud, and other oversight. So for-profit colleges have come to ALEC to seek influence at the state level.

The Republic Report article has more, including a list of major for-profit education players with ALEC ties.

ALEC is deeply involved in the "Stand and Fire" laws associated with the Trayvon Martin shooting, and the Washington Post Company's secret membership in ALEC raises many questions:

ALEC, which advanced model laws on Stand Your Ground, the provision that could influence the outcome of George Zimmerman’s criminal case for the killing of Trayvon Martin, and on Voter ID, which makes it harder for low-income people, people of color, young people, the elderly, and the disabled to vote.

Why did the Washington Post Company, whose CEO proclaimed that Kaplan was committed to aiding the disadvantaged, support through Kaplan an organization that was doing these things?

And why hasn’t the Post disclosed in its coverage of ALEC that its Kaplan division was recently an ALEC member?

Halperin has more; please do read the rest.

The public ALEC lists are fascinating (feel free to click). The non-public list, even more so. Excellent work.

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)
 

Austerity promises fail as UK hits double dip recession

Despite all of the big talk about how austerity creates an economic miracle, as usual, miracle talk was nothing more than a lie by snake oil salesmen. The Tories, much like the US Republicans, are happy playing economic games with everyone else and the results are clear. Austerity during these conditions doesn't work, it only makes the recession more severe. If only the Democrats weren't so afraid of making this point early and often. Running a country is not the same as running a household, but this is somehow news for the GOP. During times like this, stimulus spending is a must to keep the economy going until the private sector can rebound. The Guardian:

"We consistently warned that their austerity plan was self-defeating and that cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast would badly backfire. David Cameron and George Osborne arrogantly and complacently dismissed people who warned of the risk of a double-dip recession and the country is now paying a very heavy price. Their economic credibility is now in tatters." Responding to news that a big fall in construction output and a smaller decline in manufacturing production had caused the economy to shrink for the fourth quarter in the last six, the prime minister told MPs: "These are very, very disappointing figures. I don't seek to excuse them, I don't seek to try and explain them away."

When did Blue Dogs become "moderate"?

The head of the Blue Dog Democrats in the House, Mike Ross, is that Democrats are facing "a terrifying reign of their own as liberal activists and unions keep hounding moderate members out of office." (emphasis added)

Well, let's get a few things straight. Most importantly, Blue Dog does not equal moderate. In Democratic circles we have three major types. Conservatives (Blue Dogs), liberals (Kennedy was a good example), and everyone else in between who could potentially be called "moderates." But nowhere does being a Blue Dog (i.e., a right-wing Democrat) make you a moderate, any more than being a conservative (i.e., right-wing) Republican - the GOP version of the Blue Dog - make you a moderate.

It's a cute lie that people like Ross would like you to believe, and it's a cheap lie too. It's the same thing as Republicans always fighting to see who's the "real" Republican, meaning of course, the furthest to the right. And Blue Dogs play the same games. No one is "moderate" except them, they'd like you to believe. Really?

If Blue Dog Democrats in the House are "moderate" Democrats, then I'd like Ross to explain to us who the "conservative" Democrats are to the right of the Blue Dogs?  Because there are none.

Perlstein: Is Obama's "religion of Secular Humanism" this election's viral RW meme?

Yes, you read that right. Seems really stupid doesn't it, that something so ... stupid ... could suck all the air out of an election campaign. Yet that's exactly what happened in 2004, with the swiftboatage of John Kerry. Stupid; and so very effective.

For Perlstein, the Kerry part of the story — the analogy that sets up the Romney prediction — started with a stupid little self-published booklet he discovered in 2004 floating around the fringes of a right-wing event.

Here's his intro (my emphasis and paragraphing):

Once upon a time, in early 2004, I attended one of hundreds of "Parties for the President" organized nationwide for grassroots volunteers who wanted to help reelected George W. Bush, at a modest middle class home in Portland, Oregon.

At one point, a nice old lady politely pressed into my hand a grubby little self-published pamphlet she had come upon, purporting to prove that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had faked the heroics that had won him three purple hearts in Vietnam. I added it to my mental store of the night's absurdities that I expected to hear rattling across the wingnutosphere the entire fall: "I still believe there are weapons of mass destruction"; "There is an agenda—to get rid of God in this country"; "John Kerry attended a party in which there was bad language!"

What I didn't expect was to see Kerry's war-hero cred earnestly debated night after night on CNN. Then came August and "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" — and that little old lady's fever dream began dominating the media discussion of the campaign, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That's the way, in my experience, the ecology of right-wing smears works: Insane horror stories – Clinton is running cocaine out of an Arkansas airport! Barack Obama had gay sex in the back of a limo! – bubble up from the collective conservative Id at the outset of an election year; professional conservatives in Washington identify the ones that seem most promising and launder them through the suckers in the "balance"-hungry mainstream media; and presto, before you know it, it's death-panel-palooza, 24/7.

Presto; yet this is not magic, but art. These are professionals. Watch and learn — here's how the process breaks down. They:

• Figure out how the rubes want to be lied to
• Figure out which lies have "legs"
• Figure out which lies also advance the Movement Conservative Project
• Focus-test all of the swamp-meat prose they come up with
• Deliver the stinkiest rot to the eager flies using the fly-seeking "professional" press
• Count the money (note to students: the MoveCon Project pays extremely well)

This is how it's done when the pros do it. There is nothing uncalculated about advertising. (Hint: Ask yourself why there are so many black men in the "can't get hard" ads. Go ahead, ask. There's an answer, and it's perfectly thought through.)

Perlstein has much more. He traces the history of this particular fantasia — from a 1961 Supreme Court decision footnote; to a 1974 near-miss court challenge to the "religion of Secular Humanism"; to its demonization in a 1984 right-wing classic; to ... well, read on. It's Perlstein doing what Perlstein does quite well — tell a great story.

I can't close without giving you this, the current season's seed, from the Rolling Stone article I've been quoting and Crooks and Liars. (If by chance you listen to this vid twice, ask yourself if the questioner isn't a shill, a ringer.To my ear she sounds way too focused on asking the question from a very precise angle.)

Romney in Wisconsin (that's Paul Ryan on stage with him):



In defense of Perlstein's prediction, the Catholic Bishops PAC is all over this one. I agree with Perlstein — it's not going away on its own.

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)
 

House Tea-partyers want to let student loan payments double

Greg Sargent at the Post:

Is the battle over student loans shaping up as a rerun of the payroll tax cut fight, which by all accounts badly damaged the GOP? Consider the parallels. Just as in the payroll tax cut battle, there’s a looming deadline: On July 1st, interest rates on federally funded student loans is set to double. Barack Obama and Democrats, confident that the politics are on their side, are signaling that they intend to remain on offense on the issue.

Meanwhile, House conservatives — just as during the payroll battle — are beginning to signal that they oppose the extension, period, full stop. Check out this quote from GOP Rep. Todd Akin, who is running in a GOP primary for the right to take on Dem Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Akin said the government should be out of the student loan market altogether. “America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in,” he said.

You know who else wanted kids to go to college? Hitler.

Kidding. But only just.

This is sadly typical of the radical fringe running today's Republican party.  Every thing they don't like is socialism (which, to their simple minds means, of course, Soviet communism).  And everything they do like is Reaganism (even if Reagan, but today's GOP standards, would be a socialist).

8 reasons why Romney is more right-wing than Bush

From ThinkProgress - here's three of the eight:

1. Bush passed a huge tax cut plan, mostly benefiting the wealthy. Romney’s tax cut plan is four times larger, more heavily weighted to benefit ultra wealthy.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Passed $2.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, 12.5% benefiting the top 1/10 of 1%. [ThinkProgress, 2/22/12; David Cay Johnston. 3/1/12]

MITT ROMNEY: Proposing $10.7 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, 33% benefiting the top 1/10 of 1%. [ThinkProgress, 2/22/12; David Cay Johnston. 3/1/12]

2. Bush signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Romney supports repealing virtually all campaign finance laws.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Signed into law the landmark McCain–Feingold campaign finance reform, which put restrictions on “soft money” and limitations on spending from outside groups. [White House, 03/27/02]

MITT ROMNEY: Strongly defended the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which overturned key provisions McCain–Feingold. Supports repealing virtually all campaign finance laws. [Mitt Romney, 2/18/10; ThinkProgress, 12/21/11]

3. Bush supported comprehesive immigration reform, a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants and provisions of the DREAM Act. Romney opposes all of it.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants and provisions of the DREAM Act. [Reuters, 6/29/07; White House, 10/24/07]

MITT ROMNEY: Opposes comprehensive immigration reform and opposes providing a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants and the DREAM Act. [Fox News, 04/03/12; ABC, 12/31/12]

Former DC Mayor Marion Barry labeled a racist for anti-Asian comments

The man appears to have series issues with Asian people.  There's just too much of a trend of nasty anti-Asian comments.  And he's a city council member of a minority-majority city.

At a hearing Monday on the University of the District of Columbia’s budget, he spoke about the need to train more African Americans to become nurses. In a video of his remarks aired by WTTG-TV, Barry noted a growing number of nurses are “immigrants” from the Philippines.

“[I]f you go to the hospital now, you’ll find a number of immigrants who are nurses, particularly from the Philippines,” said Barry (D-Ward 8). “And no offense, but let’s grow our own teachers, let’s grow our own nurses, and so that we don’t have to go scrounging in our community clinics and other kinds of places, having to hire people from somewhere else.”

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations called Barry’s remarks “racist” and “bigoted.”

HuffPost puts the comments in the larger context of Barry's other nasty quips about Asians.

“We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” Barry said. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.”

Why write about this idiot? Because there's a larger history of bad relations between the black and Asian communities in this country, and the notion of Asian businesses somehow carpetbagging their way into black neighorhoods. That's what's likely influencing Barry's comments, and he's only feeding the racism, and mutual dislike and distrust, between the communities by speaking like this, repeatedly.

The man really is an idiot. I was asked by a Swedish friend last night how idiot conservatives were elected to parliament in his country. I told him that it happened in politics wordlwide. Marion Barry is a great, local, example.

If the GOP candidates were teens on Twitter

From College Humor (an excerpt):

Orszag on the impending "Taxmageddon"

Former OMB director Peter Orszag, who's now with Citigroup:

The nation is hurtling toward what has been called “taxmageddon,” the enormous tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of 2013. At around the same time, we will also be spending some more quality time with our old friend: the debt limit.

At the end of this year, all the Bush tax cuts expire -- amounting to about $250 billion a year. The payroll-tax holiday, at more than $100 billion a year, ends too, as do expanded unemployment-insurance benefits. And we face other spending cuts of about $100 billion, from the sequester set up by the 2011 debt-limit deal. All told, this fiscal tightening adds up to about $500 billion -- or more than 3 percent of gross domestic product. The economy will be in no shape to handle that much of a squeeze. If we do nothing to reduce or stop it, the economy could be thrown back into a recession. As if that were not challenging enough, we are expected to bump back up against the debt limit, which currently stands at $16.4 trillion. Projections suggest we will approach the limit in the fourth quarter of 2012. Then, the Treasury secretary will take temporary measures to allow continued issuance of debt. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates those actions will get us to February 2013 -- at which point we will hit the debt-limit wall. If the economy is weaker than expected, it will widen the deficit faster, and we’ll hit the wall sooner.

GOP committee chair calls Obama admin "most corrupt government in history"

And House Committee chair Darrel Issa knows a thing or two (or three) about corruption.

Last year Rep. Darrell Issa retracted his statement that President Barack Obama was one of the most corrupt presidents in modern history, saying he should have parsed his words more carefully.

Tuesday, the California Republican's more careful parsing apparently included declaring Obama's government the most corrupt in history.

"We are busy in Washington with a corrupt government, with a government that I said more than a year ago was perhaps -- because of the money, because of the amount of TARP and stimulus funds -- was going to be the most corrupt government in history, and it is proving to be that, just exactly that," Issa said in a Bloomberg television interview.

Horrid House Blue Dog Tim Holden defeated by Progressive Matt Cartwright

In fracking-filled Pennsylvania (check this map), blood-red Blue Dog Tim Holden lost last night in his primary battle against real progressive Matt Cartwright.

First from AP (my emphasis everywhere and some reparagraphing, 'cause, you know):

U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, Pennsylvania's longest-serving congressman, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary[.] ... Holden, who was elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of its conservative, so-called Blue Dog Democrats, lost Tuesday to personal injury attorney Matt Cartwright, who spent nearly $400,000 in the race.

A lot of that money came from BlueAmerica. Here's Howie Klein, BlueAmerica treasurer, on the victory:

Something very rare happened tonight, something that will send a chill down the spines of members of the Democratic establishment: a true blue progressive unseated a tired Blue Dog congressman. We were told it was impossible. Pennsylvania's Matt Cartwright just proved them all wrong. ...

They had a choice and they chose the progressive candidate who would stand up for working families instead of corporations and who believes that individual liberty applies to women as well as men.

Here's something a little more direct (from the same Facebook page):

Tonight Democrats in Pennsylvania told Hoyer and Israel and Wasserman Schultz to go take a flying leap as they defeated their hackish corrupt Blue Dog, Tim Holden, and replaced him with progressive Matt Cartwright for U.S. Congress.

With 447 of 449 precincts reporting, Cartwright beat Hoyer's corrupt Blue Dog 33,102 (57%) to 24,871 (43%). Holden lost all the big population centers. Cartwright ran up solid majorities in Lackawanna (78%). Luzerne (71%), Northampton (55%) and Monroe (64%). Grassroots Democrats in other states should take up the banner.

Don't trust anyone endorsed by the DCCC. Check them out carefully first. Most will be worthless shills like the majority of the people on the Red-to-Blue List of Shame.

Hmm, DCCC ... DCCC ... Where have we heard that name before?

Ah yes, DCCC are the so-called Democrats taking "oppose the War on Women" money and then supposedly standing aside in the MI-03 primary — a battle between proven Planned Parenthood defunder Steve Pestka (yes, he actually cast that vote) and real progressive Trevor Thomas.

Two choices, folks — we can fight (as Matt Cartwright did) or bail (as many of us would like to do; I get that). Me, I'm in a fighting frame of mind. If you're the same, join the battle in Michigan and support Trevor Thomas. His primary is August 7.

Want to learn more on the DCCC and the Michigan-03 race? Go here; it'll curdle your morning milk. Yes, that DCCC.

(Update: Fixed donate link.)

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)
 

It's art, but is it racist?

A mini-scandal here in Sweden over the Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, showing up at an event and cutting a cake that's a caricature of an obese African minstrel woman.  At first glance, it sure looks racist.

Of course, the issue is a bit more complicated.

The artist who made the cake is black (does that matter?). And he's actually the head of the cake.  Each time a guest slices a piece of the blood red cake, the artist moans in agony (see video below).  The message seems pretty clearly one lampooning the cake-cutters as racist, rather than a message that's racist against blacks or Africans.



But.

It's not entirely clear to me that, when a government official is presented with the prospect of carving up a caricature of a black person, the government official should happily oblige. I get that the art is intended to fight racism. But does it?  And what happens when a government official plays along with the joke/art?  Some have asked whether the government would play along with a cake carving up a Jew, or a Muslim?  How about a fetus?

I do think, first of all, that the minister is an idiot for carving the cake. She must have known what the optics would be like, and that the photos of her carving the cake would look per se racist. But is she racist for carving the cake and going along with the joke/political lesson? Of that I'm not so sure. In the end, the cake seems to have been made so that the guest would cut it up, and that the visual would send an anti-racism message. One could argue that the minister was simply a willing pawn in helping to spread that message.

In the end, is this a cake that was never intended to be eaten at all?  Wasn't the point to make the guests uncomfortable carving the cake, so that the only "good" person is one who refuses to carve the cake, period?  In a way, I'm starting to find the cake quite a brilliant statement. The guests who were willing to carve the cake with a laugh, less so.

What do you think? Take a look at the video and let me know what you think in the comments.

The return of mad cow in the US?

Let's hope this is an isolated incident and nothing more. Besides the obvious health impact, this is likely to have a negative impact on US beef exports not to mention a slow down in the US.

Clifford, the government's chief veterinary officer at the agriculture department, had quickly called his counterparts in Mexico and Canada, the first and second-largest buyers of U.S. beef, to tell them about a California cow found to have an "atypical" type of the brain-wasting disease. Having taken up his post in May 2004, just six months after the first U.S. case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy was discovered, he knows that sharing information quickly during the next 24 hours -- and in the weeks ahead -- will be vital for reassuring consumers, both domestic and foreign. "It's critically important for the trust and continuing of the trade between those countries," Clifford said in an interview, trying to pre-empt concerns about the nation's herd that could send the multi-billion U.S. industry into another tailspin.

Video: Mitt Romney's awkward bonding tour of America

This is awfully good.  And it just get worse and worse as the video goes on.  Watch the entire thing.

Russian scientists search for only known white killer whale

You have to click through to see the video of Iceberg, the killer whale. It's amazing to see the what they claim is the only all white killer whale in the world. (Which sounds doubtful, but possible.)

Video: Greedy Hamster

In addition to funky cats, the Russians apparently have quite interesting hamsters as well.  (I still think I prefer these videos without the music added.)

Video: 56 episodes of Star Trek simultaneously

I made it through 2 minutes 30. (Geek alert) Sounded a bit like another Star Trek episode when Data heard a thousand voices at once.

EU debt increasing, even with austerity

In yet another sign of trouble for the wisdom of harsh fiscal austerity (along with the CNN report), Commerzbank has noted the destructive impact of austerity. The story by conservatives that austerity cures all problems is proving false, just as many liberal economists stated from the beginning. It doesn't work that way and there are no solid examples to show it working in modern history either. The Democrats need to ramp up the discussion on austerity and its human cost because it's ugly. Read more about the Commerzbank report via CNBC:In a note to clients, analysts at Commerzbank said data is now clearly showing that government debt in the euro zone’s periphery is rising, despite the imposition of tough austerity at the behest of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union. Following data showing Portuguese debt rose in the first quarter of 2012, Christoph Weil, the chief economist at Commerzbank says it is unlikely Lisbon will meet its targets without even more spending cuts.

Mitt Romney's plan for the nation is so secret even he doesn't know it

The Obama campaign has been hitting Romney hard on his "secret strategy" for America - meaning, they're hitting Romney hard for not dealing plans for much of anything. Romney would understandably prefer to keep the conversation on Obama.  But at some point, the man needs to spell out his vision for the country.  And having run for President, and office, for so many years, it's disturbing that he doesn't seem to have one.

AP really lets Romney have it in this rather long story detailing policy after policy about which Romney has little detailed to say.

How rude of Ron Paul to keep beating Mitt Romney in the primaries

It's so mean of Ron Paul to keep winning. Winning is for losers. From Dave Weigel:

Not quite yet. Over the weekend, Minnesota held congressional district conventions. Now, the state's February caucus -- one of the trio of non-binding contests Santorum won early that month -- went 45 percent for Santorum, 27 percent for Paul, and only 17 percent for Romney. The Associated Press and other groups went on to estimate that Santorum would win 17 of Minnesota's delegates, Paul would win 10, and Romney 6. Wrong. Ron Paul dominated the CD conventions. According to a tweet from RNC committeewoman Pat Anderson, Paul took 20 of the 24 delegates available in the CDs.

Mitt Romney's Latino Problem

Mitt Romney has a Latino problem. No, it's nothing along the lines of disgraced Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu's affair with an undocumented Mexican immigrant. Mitt's problem is that while he desperately needs Latinos to make up for his voter deficit to President Barack Obama, Latinos just don't like Mitt very much.

In fact, Fox News' own Latino division found that if the general election were held today, only 14 percent of Latino voters would cast their ballots for Romney (assuming Republicans hadn't already forced those voters to self-deport). A whopping 70% would cast their ballots for incumbent Obama.

Mitt's problem with the Latino voting bloc mostly likely stems from a deep distrust in his attitudes towards them - and that is "attitudes," as in plural. Over the course of the GOP primary, Mitt's stances on immigrants and Latinos have shifted ever more to the right to compete with the lunacy of the now-dead campaigns of Rep. Michele "Double Fence" Bachmann and Herman "Electrocute Them Already" Cain. Remember Mitt's "self-deportation suggestion," gente?

So what's Mitt to do? Always in search of his own bailout (like when he asked the federal government for cash in order to save his Winter Olympics), Romney may be hoping that possible VP pick Marco Rubio, the Cuban freshman senator from Florida, will come to his rescue.

There's just one problem with Mitt possibly picking Rubio as his running mate: Latinos aren't falling for the pandering. Recent polling finds that even with Rubio on the ticket, Mitt loses Latinos to President Obama in the general election. In fact, the GOP ticket loses to the Democratic ticket by seven points in Rubio's own home state of Florida.

Part of the problem lies with Rubio's own disingenuous attempt to duplicate the Democrats' popular DREAM Act, while still trying to keep a rabid, anti-immigrant GOP base at bay. Rubio's proposed alternative, which John called the Ream Act, would offer no path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States against their own volition as kids. This isn't even including the fact that Mitt himself refuses to comment on whether or not he endorses his possible running mate's legislation.

Latinos' distrust of Mitt could ultimately lie with Arizona's infamous "Papers Please" law. While he named its author Kris Kobach an "advisor," and called the law a "model for the nation" as recently as February, Mitt has pulled out the Etch-A-Sketch and changed the mariachi tune, saying that he was only referring to the E-Verify system. He even threw the author under the bus, saying that he was a "supporter" and nothing more (Mitt's spokesperson was later forced to recant).

Kobach himself tried to staple down Mitt's position, saying that in reality Mitt does want the "Papers Please" law nationwide. “He stated very publicly that Arizona’s law should be a model for how the federal government enforces its immigration laws. And he’s correct there too."

Only Mitt knows how much pandering is left for a man who flips more than a jumping bean (someone please let Mitt know that that's not Mexico's national symbol). He's already claimed his Mexico-born dad was a poor immigrant (minus that whole actually being Mexican stuff). He'll continue to erase and distort, even though we all remember he's someone who fired an undocumented gardener - a man simply trying to make a living - just to save himself some GOP votes.

Say, Mitt, you think Menudo needs any new members?

Obama in NC today, won't mention huge anti-gay ballot initiative taking place in two weeks

Well that isn't very nice. As Joe notes over at AMERICAblog Gay:

Today, President Obama will be at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to give a speech on student loan interest rates, which will double in July if Congress doesn't act. That's not the big issue in North Carolina right now. North Carolinians are currently voting on the viciously anti-gay Amendment 1, which will ban marriage equality and more in the state. Early voting began on April 19th for the May 8th election. Much of the opposition is coming from students. The President's campaign issued a statement a couple weeks ago, which stated Obama's opposition to Amendment 1.

It's not just not helpful. It sends a terrible message, having the President in the state, and NOT talking about the biggest issue in the state. It makes it look as if he's afraid to talk about the issue. And it sends the message to voters, especially certain constituencies deeply aligned with the President, that he just might not care how they vote on the issue.

I get that the White House wants to stay on message and talk about the economy rather than gay stuff.  Okay.  Then don't go to North Carolina two weeks before a crucial anti-gay vote.  To go anyway, and ignore a massive civil (and human) rights violation in the making, is somewhat ugly, to say the least.  It's also asking for political trouble with a constituency that knows how to make it.

Please thank the Catholic church for throwing the US election to Obama

It's that time, every four years, when the Catholic leadership tries to throw the US elections to the Republicans.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called for two weeks of public protest in June and July against what it sees as growing government encroachment on religious freedom.

The protests are expected to include priests and nuns and thousands of Catholic parishioners. Some activists expect civil disobedience, which could lead to powerful images of priests and nuns being led away in hand restraints.

Can't be long now until they start cutting off communion to Democrats.

I always get a kick out of two things when the Catholic leadership tries to influence US elections on behalf of Republicans.

1. That the Catholic leadership actually acts as if it still has any moral authority whatsoever after aiding and abetting, and continuing to cover up, the decades-long serial rape of children; and

2. That it pretends to represent some huge Catholic constituency when it views don't even represent a majority of US Catholics.  Meaning, if you want to do the bidding of American Catholics, watch these people protest then do the opposite of what they're asking for.

Key findings from the [PPP] survey include:

-57% of Catholic voters support the new policy President Obama announced yesterday allowing women who work for religiously-affiliated hospitals and universities to receive coverage for prescription birth control without requiring Catholic institutions to pay for the coverage directly. Only 29% oppose the policy because they believe it still goes too far in requiring birth control coverage; additionally 5% oppose it because they think Catholic hospitals and universities should be required to pay for this coverage. Catholic women are particularly positive toward the policy, with 59% of them expressing support.

-With the inclusion of President Obama’s solution for religiously-affiliated institutions, Catholics favor the requirement that health plans cover prescription birth control by a  margin of 54% to 42%. Catholic Democrats (80% - 17%) favor the requirement by virtually the same margin that Catholic Republicans (16% - 79%) oppose it; significantly, politically independent Catholics favor the requirement by an 18-point margin (56% to 38%). Catholic women also favor it by an 18-point margin, while Catholic men favor it by a 4-point margin.

But even better?  The more the fringe Catholic leadership rabble-rouses on this issue, the more it actually hurts Romney, according to PPP:

-This issue has the potential to cause Mitt Romney trouble with Catholic voters in the fall. 51% say they side with Barack Obama on this issue, while only 38% prefer
Romney’s position. Hispanic Catholics, a group Romney must make in roads with, go with Obama 59/32 on the policy and Catholic women do so by a 54/35 margin. Catholics ave been a key swing voting group in recent elections, supporting George W. Bush in 2004  and then Obama in 2008. Obama’s even-handed approach on this issue has him positioned  well with Catholics for the fall.

And it may just throw control of the US House to Democrats, again from PPP:

-Congressional Republicans risk losing their majority in the House and squandering any opportunities in the Senate by continuing attacks on the popular birth control benefit.

The trick here for the Obama administration, and campaign, is to make sure that any stories about the Catholic protests explain WHY people are protesting - namely, the Obama birth control benefit policy that most Catholics agree with.

As for the protests themselves, someone needs to counter-protest with a group of five year old boys holding signs saying "you lost your moral authority when you covered up my rape." The only way to chasten the Catholic leadership is for them to know that every single time they try to force all Americans to live under Catholic doctrine Americans will be reminded that these are the same people who to this day still protect child rapists.

Dow CEO: If you ignore fracking problems, shale gas is awesome!

Only on CNBC's Kudlow Report can you get such priceless discussions that completely ignore the problem of earthquakes and polluted water sources. In the fantasy land known as The Kudlow Report, it's all about the wet dreams of Big Energy including the usual demands for scrapping pesky regulation, as in the already anemic regulation that is supposed to protect people.

Forget if you can that ever so small problem of cities like Youngstown, Ohio purchasing earthquake insurance or the EPA study that linked fracking to water pollution. Clean drinking water is probably overrated anyway, right?

What is missing (again) from this pro-fracking love fest on CNBC is a debate about why it's OK for business to pass on costs of fracking to everyone else. If Big Energy wants to destroy the environment to make a few bucks, why shouldn't they also be responsible for funding the cleanup and after effects of their destructive practices? With the economy still weak and Americans wondering about job security, how is it fair to push these costs onto others rather than asking the always profitable energy industry to foot the bill?

The Tokyo Tea Party (shivers)

From Molly Ball in the Atlantic:

Aeba, one of the leaders of Japan’s right-wing Happiness Realization Party, was accompanied by Yuya Watase, the founder of the Tokyo Tea Party; their interpreter, a Happiness Realization Party official named Yuki Oikawa; and Bob Sparks, their American political consultant. Together, they said, they were on a mission to export American-style conservatism—the gospel of small government, low taxes, and free enterprise—to the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Tokyo Tea Party uses the same slogan as its American counterpart—“Taxed Enough Already”—and even goes by the same name (though I was assured that there was no danger of confusion with the traditional Japanese tea ceremony). Aeba’s Happiness Realization Party, meanwhile, is the political arm of a new-wave religious movement called Happy Science, whose founder claims to be a reincarnation of the Buddha. The Happies, as they are called, envision a Japan that is at once more muscular on the world stage—they propose eliminating the constitutional ban on waging war—and more religious at home. “The best analogy would be the Christian Coalition, Buddhist-style,” Sparks offered helpfully.

Yes, because that's what the world needs is a newly militaristic evangelical Japan.

CNN's Zakaria: Europe suffers from too much austerity

I'm not saying that CNN's Fareed Zakaria is wrong. But after all of these years of the West, via the IMF, forcing developing countries to decimate their budgets and thus their economies, at the expense of their people, now that the tough love medicine is hitting too close to home, suddenly it's time to revisit the notion that there's no such thing as too much, or ill-timed, austerity.

Fareed Zakaria at CNN:

Consider that data we started with. The U.S. economy, which received monetary and fiscal stimulus, will grow at well over 2% this year. European economies that have followed the path of cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce deficits are finding themselves in a downward spiral: cutting spending means laying off people, which means less demand for good and services, which means the economy shrinks, which - ironically - means lower tax revenues and thus larger budget deficits.
Take a look at Britain. Britain has followed a brave austerity plan, cutting government spending across the board and raising taxes. The result, British growth has stalled; the economy will grow barely 0.8% this year. And while its budget deficit was predicted to be under 13 billion dollars in February, it was in fact 24 billion dollars for that month alone.
After its austerity programs, Spain has hit 20% unemployment - 50% youth unemployment - and now has a much larger budget deficit than projected.

Video: Buster's box FAIL

This is quite adorable.

TV Ads begin in campaign against NC's anti-gay Amendment 1

On May 8th, voters in North Carolina will decide the fate of Amendment One, a viciously anti-gay measure put on the ballot by the GOP nut jobs in the legislature. It's so poorly written that it will have an impact beyond same-sex couples. We've been writing about this campaign extensively at AMERICAblog Gay.

Actually, North Carolinians are already going to the polls. Early voting began last Thursday.

There's a broad, very active coalition of over 100 organizations, including the NAACP, fighting the amendment. And, here's been a groundswell of opposition to Amendment One, from unlikely sources. The CEO of Duke Energy, a fortune 500 company, blasted it -- as did the former GOP mayor of Charlotte, Richard Vinroot, who did a video against Amendment One with a former Democratic mayor of Charlotte, Harvey Gantt.

Last night, the campaign to defeat Amendment One held a conference call to discuss its t.v. ads, which began airing today.  On the call to discuss the ads and the strategy for the next two weeks were the media consultants, Mark Amour and Chad Griffin (who will soon be President of HRC), producer Dustin Lance Black and the pollster, Josh Ulibarri from Lake Research. Our side did some pretty intense research to figure out the messages that moved voters. And, these ads, according to testing, worked. One other thing, Dustin Lance Black said, with which I agree, is that before major donors go the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte and spend $100,000 on VIP parties and functions, they need to donate to defeat discrimination in NC now. After all, even President Obama is against Amendment One. 

Here are the ads from Protect All NC Families:

And:

The other side start airing its ads today, too. They are using the same consultant, Frank Schubert, from Prop. 8 and the Maine marriage campaign. So, we're expecting the usual lies (in fact, the leader of the anti-marriage side in Maine, who works for the Catholic Bishop, basically admitted his campaign lied in 2009, "We use a lot of hyperbole and I think that's always dangerous.")

The campaign against Amendment one is Protect All NC Families and the website is here. Already, the campaign has raised $600,000 online -- far more than expected. Thanks to everyone who made that happen. And, you can still donate to buy more air time here. 

The campaign is also running an aggressive field program, focusing on get-out-the-vote. And, there are lots of other allies doing their own outreach via radio and mail. More from North Carolinian Pam Spaulding on some of the grassroots efforts here.

If you family or friends there, urge them to vote early AGAINST Amendment One. And, if you live there, vote now.