David Dayen at Lake du Fire Dogs has been watching the Senate vote on the Reconciliation side car “fix” to the Health Insurance Bailout bill this morning.

http://news.firedoglake.com/20…

It passed, 56 to 43.  V.P.  Joe Biden was there, indicating that the administration didn’t quite trust the Democratic Senators to behave themselves. Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas (OPEC API IPAA, Mellon Scaife, & Koch Oil, Mutual of Omaha, & Walmart, LLC)  voted against the reconciliation bill.  

Surprise ! It has to now go back to the House again for another vote, saith the Parliamentarian      

Remember when there was talk of how the amendment process in the Senate would only need a simple 50 vote majority under the rules of reconciliation, and therefore some Senator could offer an amendment with a Public Option, and there was Sen. Bennett’s (D, CO) letter http://bennet.senate.gov/newsr…        going around with the signatures, and the People in Charge said Absolutely Not, we are taking no amendments on this because we can’t risk the Republicans delaying with their own ?  An everybody got into line?

Surprise !   They were just kidding.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

How about putting it in the year 2011 Budget, Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota ?

“I’d be unwilling to kick up dust on some new matter before we’ve resolved this one,” he told reporters.

A status quo You Can Believe In.

They say over 25 million Americans will be left out of coverage. It’s more.   They’re wrong, there’s 300 million who were planning on the Constitution covering them, and it’s still random, depending on which state you reside in.

But only the Democratic Party could try to get away with it, having drawn such courage from watching the Republicans cheer them on as they continue to thumb their noses at the core constituency who actually voted to put them in office, and had bothered to read the quaint old thing.

_______________

update:

AHIP Already kicking sick kids to the curb

nyceve has posted this story about America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP, think Karen Ignagni the lobbyist) which wrote much of the bill incognito, saying that it intreprets the new law as not requiring insurers to cover all child applicants this year.  They would prefer to wait until 2014.

This bill is being “sold” as finally making insurance available for all children (except non legal residents) this year. Supposedly the Sec of HHS is going to issue a sternly worded clarification, or something.  But insurers can jack up rates in the meantime-

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Today is the deadline for Los Angeles County, CA to turn in their lists of valid signatures for the November elections, and the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for adult personal use is expected to qualify.  It’s the “Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.”  pdf here of proposed law: http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachmen…

Huffpo here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

Look at the statistics quoted here in this Stephen Gutwillig story, and tell me that the continued persecution of marijuana use, isn’t authoritarian right wing make work, waste money, government scheming done because law enforcement needs something to do –  because pot is so easy to grow, nobody would have to go without if it were not illegal:

Unthinkable carnage in Mexico has claimed 15,000 lives since the Calderon government declared war on drug cartels three years ago. Our government estimates the cartels generate at least 60% of their profits from marijuana alone. Following the murders of several U.S. consular workers, Secretary of State Clinton returned to Mexico this week, acknowledging that demand in the U.S. dominates these markets. But she didn’t acknowledge that rampant violence is not a byproduct of the cannabis plant itself but of the prohibition that creates a profit motive people are willing to kill for.

/snip

With this cultural transition underway, you might think enforcement of our marijuana laws would reflect their unpopularity. Sadly, quite the opposite is the case. Arrests for marijuana offenses have actually tripled nationwide since 1991. In California, which decriminalized low-level possession in 1975, arrests have jumped 127 percent in the same two decades the arrest rate for crime in general fell by 40 percent. Police made nearly 850,000 marijuana arrests across the country last year, half of all drug arrests and more than all violent crime arrests combined. No law in the United States is enforced so widely yet deemed so unnecessary.

Worse still, marijuana laws are enforced selectively with racist results. In California, African Americans are three times more likely than whites to be arrested for a marijuana offense despite comparable or even lower rates of consumption. An expose by the Pasadena Weekly found that blacks, who represent 14 percent of that city’s population, accounted for more than half all marijuana arrests in the last five years.

The LA Times yesterday, if the issue makes it to the ballot:

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo…

That will once again make California the focal point of the long-stewing argument over marijuana legalization, a debate likely to be a high-dollar brawl between adversaries who believe it could launch or stifle another national trend.

The campaign will air issues that have changed little over the years. Proponents will cite the financial and social cost of enforcing pot prohibition and argue that marijuana is not as dangerous and addictive as tobacco or alcohol. Opponents will highlight marijuana-linked crimes, rising teenage use and the harm the weed causes some smokers.

But the debate also will play out against a cultural landscape that has changed substantially, with marijuana moving from dark street corners to neon-lit suburban boutiques. In the months since the Obama administration ordered drug agents to lay off dispensaries, hundreds have opened, putting pot within easy reach of most Californians. Whether voters view this de facto legalization with trepidation or equanimity could shape the outcome.

The measure’s supporters hope that this dynamic will shift the debate, allowing them to persuade voters to replace prohibition with controlled sales that could be taxed to help California’s cities and counties.

“They already accept that it’s out there. They want to see a smart strategy,” said Chris Lehane, a top strategist for the initiative.

What suburban boutiques?  We had a faux – Libertarian Republican Neocon run here in CA 04 supposedly in favor of legalizing pot, McClintock, and instead post election all the local Republicans are fighting tooth and nail against siting any medical marijuana dispensaries in the local counties in the district.  Oh, wait, he doesn’t live in the district.  My county just spent 4 million on a surveillance helicopter. nevermind.

But John Lovell, a Sacramento lobbyist for law enforcement groups, said he believes that voters will reject that argument.

“Why on Earth would you want to add yet another mind-altering substance to the legal array?” he asked.

Because, it’s cheaper, it works, it doesn’t have harmful side effects, and people can grow it themselves without having to pay for insurance, co pays, and prescriptions, which is going to cost them $10,000 a year or more.  In 2004, California voters legalized medical marijuana.  Since then, a majority of voters (at least 56%)  have come around to supporting further freedoms.  Because pot is also a multi billion dollar crop, the thought of collecting tax revenues on it if it were legal, when the state is dead broke and throwing college students out of schools for lack of funds, instead of wasting money busting people, during a severe economic recession, is becoming more appealing.

“Bong politics” he called it.  Here’s John Lovell. http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Lo…     And here’s the groups he lobbies for:   http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Lo…

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS 01/01/2009  start date

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH UNDERWRITERS 01/01/2009

CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL SUPERVISORS ORGANIZATION INC. 01/01/2009

CALIFORNIA NARCOTIC OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION 01/01/2009

CALIFORNIA PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 01/01/2009

CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEFS’ ASSOCIATION 01/01/2009

CHARITY FIRST FOR CALIFORNIA, INC. 01/01/2009

EMS CONSULTING 01/01/2009

LOS ANGELES COUNTY POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION  01/01/2009

About those law enforcement clients of Lobbyist Lovell’s …..

http://www.ucimc.org/content/p…

Any vote would take place in a state where attitudes toward marijuana border on the schizophrenic. Last year, the state made some 78,500 arrests on felony and misdemeanors related to the drug, up from about 74,000 in 2007, according to the California attorney general.

Seizures of illegal marijuana plants, often grown by Mexican gangs on public lands in forests and parks, hit an all-time high in 2009, and last week, federal authorities announced a series of arrests in the state’s Central Valley, where homes have been converted into “indoor grows.”

Even if each arrest and subsequent legal action only cost $1000 per incident, that’s $78,500,000 or over $78 million the state of CA is throwing away per year. The true number surely must be over a billion dollars, if each arrest and legal fallout cost in total about $12,000.   20% of all prison incarcerations are for drug offenses and the CA average cost per year to keep them there is going over $40,000 per year.  http://www.mercurynews.com/bre…    No, it won’t fix the $21 billion dollar plus CA budget deficit to legalize pot, but at least it wouldn’t be adding further to the insanity.

As a recreational user of the California State and public forests and parks, why should we be seeing park rangers and maintenance personal hour’s cut, layoffs, hiring freezes, parks shortening their hours, cutting back vital services like restrooms, or even being closed, and the Governor of the state threatening to SELL SOME OF THEM, all to “save money during a budget crisis”  just so these law enforcement types can run around playing Horticulture Police State ?

You want to get pot plantings out of public lands ?  LEGALIZE IT.  

Let’s take a closer look at one of the other groups Lovell lobbies for, Charity First for CA.  pdf filing with state   http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/PD…  Do you know what they do? They lobby for Bingo Parlors.

We can’t have pot and bingo in this state at the same time ?

What is CAHU, the CA Association of Health Underwriters up to, lately ?  They are supporting another ballot initiative for non partisan primaries.    http://cahucapitolrap.blogspot…

This was written by John Lovell, who says this trade association for the health insurance industry supports screwing up primaries by making them totally open.

With an open primary, party won’t matter. Everyone gets to vote and the top two candidates face off against each other in the Fall. That means that in a safe Democratic district, Republican voters will be the decisive factor in determining what type of Democrat goes to Sacramento. In a safe Republican district, Democratic voters will have a similar influence.

And what this means is that the entire Legislature will move to the center. CAHU does very well when we can speak with centrist Legislators – be they Democrat or Republican.  

Earth to Lovell –  it’s not all about your clients.

Yesterday, Lt Dan Choi and a fellow veteran had themselves handcuffed to the White House fence to peacefully protest the Obama administration’s empty words and lack of action on ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”   This disgraceful policy allows over 600 military servicemembers per year to be tossed out of the military merely for sexual orientation.  They were arrested and held overnight in jail, incommunicado.

https://www.docudharma.com/diar…

Protesters also staged sit ins at Speaker Pelosi’s offices in San Francisco and Washington DC.

A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi’s office said, this morning, that “they didn’t have the votes” to do anything this year.

Robin McGehee of Fresno, CA, of GetEqual,  who was at the arraignment in Washington, DC, is reporting that Lt Dan Choi and Capt Jim Pietrangelo,  have been arraigned before the judge this afternoon, and have pled Not Guilty.   They have now been released from federal custody and will go to trial April 26.   http://twitter.com/speechadvice

“We will not admit guilt in our fight for equality”

“We may have been caged up physically, but many are caged up in their heart.”

– Lt. Dan Choi  March 19, 2010

Americablog also had witnesses there yesterday and disputes another version of events being put out by another LGTB group.

http://www.americablog.com/201…

Joe Sudbay:

Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo should be released from jail today. They were arrested yesterday after handcuffing themselves to the fence in front of the White House to protest Obama’s inaction on repealing DADT. The President plays a key role in that legislation, but despite a vow to do it in the State of the Union, the White House isn’t moving. It was the first time I’ve seen civil disobedience up close. And, it was intense. To think it’s come to this with the Obama administration. But, it has.  This week, Barney Frank made it abundantly clear that the White House really needed to speak out on its desire to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year. That was Monday. No word from the White House, which says everything. There is no plan, despite the promises. It seems that everyone in DC knows that, but not everyone will admit it.

There is a plan, Joe.  They’re going to ignore you until you make yourself heard, which requires many different ways.  Just like with ending the mid east war expansions, getting everybody into a real health care system and not just a junk insurance plan, or forcing the banks to stop stealing people’s life savings, or making the government do something about carbon emissions besides more Nukes, or preserving a woman’s right to chose to bear children.

So don’t let somebody tell you it’s better to use your time to make phone calls on behalf of OFA instead of reading, writing, talking, blogging, protesting, photographing, communicating, and badgering incumbents and candidates.

We’ve (anybody who needs equality, and that is all of us, rich, poor, all colors, all genders, all faiths) got a plan, too.

Accountability.

_______

updated to add link to my diary yesterday, and the americablog link

Lt. Dan Choi, a nationally known LGBT activist and Iraq War veteran who the military is attempting to discharge because of its Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, led a group of protesters to the White House today, where he and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo let themselves be handcuffed to the wrought iron fence in an act of peaceful civil disobedience.  They were subsequently arrested and are now being held in jail pending court tomorrow.

The Advocate, 3/18/2010

http://www.advocate.com/News/D…

United States Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser told The Advocate that both men were taken to Park Police’s Anacostia station, where they were charged with failure to obey a lawful order. Choi and Pietrangelo will be held overnight and are scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on Friday.

“You’ve been told that the White House has a plan,” Choi told rally attendees. “But we learned this week that the president is still not fully committed. … Following this rally, I will be leading [the protest] to the White House to say ‘enough talk.’ … I am still standing, I am still fighting, I am still speaking out, and I am still gay.”

 Lt Choi and Capt Pietrangelo, handcuffed to the fence at the White House on March 18, 2010, while the crowd chants “Equality…..  NOW ! ”                          

Despite the Democrats holding the majority in the House and Senate since 2006,  and the White House since January 2009, during campaigns which Democratic candidates called for the repeal of DADT,  nothing has changed much in that soldiers who are outed in terms of their sexuality can still be discharged against their will for nothing but being attracted to the same gender irregardless of performance and duty.  This in spite of the issue of inequality being used for fundraising purposes, people seeking justice have been told “not now, it’s too controversial while we’re doing something else first” repeatedly.   While the President finally mentioned the topic in this year’s state of the Union address, he intends to put language about it into a fiscal appropriations bill for next year.

This is ridiculous.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D…

In the fiscal years since the policy was first introduced in 1993, the military has discharged over 13,000 troops from the military under DADT.[23][51][52] The number of discharges per year under DADT dropped sharply after the September 11 attacks and has remained relatively low since. Discharges exceeded 600 every year until 2009. Statistics on the number of persons discharged per year follow:

2007 —  627  discharged

2008 —  619 discharged

2009  —  so far  428 discharged so far    

Rick Sanchez of CNN does a good job covering this in this video.  Lt. Choi and Capt. Pietrangelo chained themselves to the White House fence today, then were arrested, in an act of peaceful civil disobedience to protest the lack of action on the ENDA Non Discrimination Act, and for ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military. Choi is an Iraq veteran.

The protest at the White House was followed by sit ins at House Speaker Pelosi’s offices in San Francisco and in Washington, DC later that afternoon by LGBTQ activists with “Get Equal.”   http://www.getequal.org/getenda/  Per their website, 4 people have been arrested at Speaker Pelosi’s Washington DC office.   The ones arrested in San Francisco have been cited and released.   twitter for Get Equal  http://twitter.com/getequal

Newsweek The Human Condition blog 3/18/2010

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs…

The group appears to be convinced that the administration and Congress are not moving forward with gay-rights legislation, despite Obama’s call in the State of the Union for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and assurances that ENDA is being explored. This week, however, The Advocate published an article in which Barney Frank claimed that the administration wanted to push the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” into next year.

According to GetEqual’s statement: “ENDA legislation has been stuck in the House Committee on Education and Labor since last year. Contrary to what has been told to many LGBTQ allies in Congress, The Hill reported in December that Pelosi assured Democrats she would not bring any controversial bills to the floor for a vote this year.”

But activists say that politics should take a back seat to human rights and basic safety. “A recent study on discrimination found that 97 percent of transgender people who responded had experienced some level of harassment and 26 percent had been fired simply for being transgender,” said David McElhatton, who is described in the statement as a transgender activist who participated in the San Francisco action today. “We thought we had an ally in Nancy Pelosi, but she has taken our equality for granted. We are not going to let up on her until she takes action to ensure that we are all protected in the workplace.”

Human rights are civil rights.  We can’t be invading country after country on the rationalization of some sort of mission to “democracize” them with western values when we continue to discriminate here at home on the basis of religious and gender identity.  These people who are willing to defend and even die for us, only wish to continue to serve their country honorably.

End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year.

Don’t let the fear be the enemy of the good.

___________

h/t to Lady Libertine for the links

No, this is not snark or a joke.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was in the majority opinion of the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case whereby the court ruled that Corporations have the same rights as individual humans to free speech, that limiting money limits free speech, so therefore they can give unlimited money to campaigns,

has a wife named Virginia (Ginni) Thomas, who just started a Tea Party group.

http://www.latimes.com/news/na…

The group is a “non profit” called Liberty Central Inc.

http://libertycentral.org/

Liberty Central.org, where like minded people gather to preserve freedom in America.

She intends to take donations and issue score cards on political candidates.  She used to work for the Heritage Foundation and Dick Armey. (Armey now is chairman of Freedomworks, which is an astroturfing org masterminded by Koch Oil’s David Koch, who also runs Americans for Prosperity.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…  Freedomworks is Tea Party, and harrassed Democrats at August town hall meetings in 2009.

On the endorsements page of Thomas’ new lobbying group, the first gush of lying spin blather goes:

What Others are Saying about Liberty Central…

“Liberty Central, with its focus specifically on training grassroots activists interested in returning the country to its founding principles, is a necessary component of a successful, long-term conservative revolution. With its intent to serve a broad coalition of grassroots organizations, and a long term view of the new conservative revolution, Liberty Central is an organization worthy of every conservative’s support.”

Mark Meckler / Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founders / National Coordinators, Tea Party Patriots

Mark Meckler is a Republican political front guy operative based in the Sacramento Northern CA area, and has done and been paid for Tea Party appearances for Russo Marsh & Rogers/ Move America Forward, the Republican PR firm which does Swiftboating and Smear campaigns, besides being the publicists for Kurdistan in Northern Iraq.  RMR/MAF is also known for their “Thank You Sarah Palin” campaign, their Tea Party anti health care reform Bus Tours featuring the anti Muslim bigot radio jock Mark Williams, and the “You Don’t Speak for Me” campaign featuring their own pit bull in lip gloss, Deborah Johns, “Pentagon Liason,”  who attacks peace activists.  Meckler is also involved in the Million Mormons on Facebook, which is loaded with whacky Glenn Beck devotees who think all government activities are anti Christian conspiracies designed to turn them into communists.  See links in this story

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

One of Meckler’s many Tea Party locations, see how it says “non partisan?” –  no, Republican

http://www.facebook.com/group….

The Tea Party logos on the Liberty Central site matches the one on Mark Meckler’s facebook page.  They claim to be:

misunderstood and mischaracterized by much of the mainstream media. “New citizen activists have been cast as ignorant, intolerant or a radical fringe by many in the media. The facts are now demonstrating that the mainstream media is wrong and ordinary citizens are up against biased elitists who are not seemingly interested in the truth.” said Virginia Thomas, President and CEO of Liberty Central …..  

Since I live in Tea Party ground zero, which is older, very wealthy Republicans manipulating anti tax populist anger combined with LDS Ron Paulian Libertarians who pretend we have no government as they collect on Medicare or work for the government, and I have witnessed Tea Party activity, let me tell you that the MSM is being too soft on them.  The MSM likes to pretend they are grassroots nutters, when they interview the hapless front guys,  when they are really Oil, Defense Contractor, Tobacco and Pharma Money, and Republicans with just another angle working.  But they endeavor to bring out the worst of human emotions, fear, selfishness, racism, and greed.

You know what “grassroots is?”  It’s not Koch Oil and others, spending millions donating to a 501(c)(4) anonymously, fronting anti tax protestors to kill health care reform, keeping the mid east mercenary drone wars going, and stopping any energy policies that would cut carbon emissions and lesson the use of petrochemicals.  Add in this political “non profit” being run by a wife of a Supreme Court Justice, and we have the Supreme Court BUYING OUR ELECTIONS OUTRIGHT for the highest bidder of their services.

Jenny Beth Martin likes to make up stories about her self being just a plain, aw shucks sort of grassroots type of girl, and neglects that part on her resume where she worked for Republicans or that her failed business owes the IRS a half million dollars.   http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…

Can you say Republican neocon war “grifters?’  Sure you can.

Can you say “conflict of interest ? for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?”  

per a law professor

“There is opportunity for mischief if a company with a case before the court, or which it wants the court to accept, makes a substantial contribution to Liberty Central in the interim,” he said.

Justice Thomas would be required to be aware of such contributions, Gillers said, adding that he believes Thomas should then disclose those facts and allow parties in the case to argue for recusal.

But it would be up to Justice Thomas to decide whether to recuse himself. He could not be reached for comment.  

http://www.latimes.com/news/na…

The LA Times story says Ginni Thomas is “intrigued by Glenn Beck and listening carefully.”

Here’s another endorsement of  Ginni Thomas’ LibertyCentral.org

Leaders committed to smaller government, fiscal prudence, and a strong national defense will be returning to Washington D.C., and I am confident that Ginni Thomas will be part of the reason it will happen.”

Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense  

Neglects to say it was Sec of Defense under George W. Bush, the Rumsfeld who went to war with the Army he had instead of the Army he should have planned for a peaceful Iraq occupation, which he totally effed up, who quit on the day after the Nov 2006 election. Amen.

2 more endorsements for Ginni’s little Tea Party fundraising for political campaigns:

Morton C. Blackwell, President, The Leadership Institute  http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…   The “Leadership Institute”  does weekend workshops and pronounces its “graduates” as having journalism degrees  (think James Guckert, the male hooker and fake reporter for Talon News (Bobby Eberle) who pitched softball questions at WH press briefings under Rove and Bush )  Blackwell is a co founder of the Moral Majority.   Think also, the dreadful Barton kid and ex Minuteman who did the “wore his uniform to a war protest with a hanging effigy” and other ads for Russo Marsh Rogers/MAF and Tom McClintock. (Barton has been paid by Russo Marsh Rogers/MAF PACs)

Edwin J. Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…  Right wing think tank full of  Reaganites and supply sided trickle down economics.  Heritage had gotten money from Joseph Coors, Olin foundation, Scaife, DeVos, (think Amway, Prop 8 and Blackwater, that family) and Bradley foundations, in 2007 they got 48.7 million dollars per wikipedia.  Edwin Feulner was connected to the Abramoff scandal thru his co founding Belle Haven Consultants, which took Malaysian oil money and laundered it thru a non profit run by Tom Delay’s friends, and ended up bribing Republicans in the Bush administration with it.  http://www.calitics.com/diary/…    http://www.dailykos.com/commen…  (How Jack Abramoff started lobbying for Malaysia only a few days after 9/11/2001, and how ex Rep. John Doolittle was involved )

The LA Times says “although Liberty Central is a non partisan group…..  ”

Non partisan ?  

CUT THE NONSENSE, LAT !  Have you every heard of politcal blogs, or teh google?   The Tea Party is 100% Republican.   What part of Supreme Court Palace Coup did you just miss ?

Clarence Thomas should be impeached and removed from the Supreme Court.