Fortunately, I publish on the Internet and not on my hand, and so I have far more space for a roundup than the six words on that Alaskan Palm Pilot from the weekend. So here goes:
• Here’s Tom Perriello telling the Senate to get moving on a jobs bill, and Bill Nelson telling Barack Obama and the House to get moving on the health care bill, and EJ Dionne telling the Senate to get moving themselves and not be frightened by the perfectly legitimate use of reconciliation. Seems like nobody’s really taking responsibility for their own actions here. Let the blamestorm begin.
• Carl Levin wants the “Shelby Shakedown” to end, particularly with respect to the four military nominations left in limbo because of a blanket hold. I don’t think military nominations should be privileged over, say, consumer safety nominations or affordable housing nominations or Education Department nominations. This use of the military as a giant club to bash opponents for political advantage really has to stop.
• Now House Dems are nervous about letting the Bush tax cuts expire. I don’t think there’s anything more fundamental to the Party’s lead message over the last decade since they were enacted. If they whiff on that… all I have to say is, David Plouffe needs to get to the white courtesy phone in a hurry.
• Lots of people talking about Steve Clemons’ post and its commentary on the Edward Luce piece on the Obama inner circle – specifically, the “Chicago crowd” of Emanuel, Axelrod, Jarrett and Gibbs. Personally, I think these kind of palace intrigue stories are easy outs – success has a million fathers, and failure is an orphan, and all that. But if you think Barack Obama has been unsuccessful, I think the best locus for your concern is with … Barack Obama, who after all built his own White House staff. I think Obama himself would agree with that.
• Will Harry Reid get Chamber of Commerce support as he tries to pull out his flagging re-election?
• According to Kathleen Sebelius, after that “bipartisan” health care summit, the one Republicans might not even show up at, THEN President Obama is going to speed the health care along to passage. OK.
• Is it me or does this seem like the trimming of sails: “Congress could pass a limited moratorium on the military’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy this spring, a key chairwoman said Monday.” Wasn’t so long ago – last week – that we were talking about full repeal this year, not a limited moratorium. And this, after the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs came out for repeal.
• Nobody knows yet if David Paterson is about to resign as Governor of New York, but he’s sitting down with the New York Times soon to at least give his perspective. What is this unnamed “scandal” all about? Probably not a litany of adulterous affairs like many had expected, but about Paterson’s personal dealings, including a rotten deal involving Aqueduct Race Track.
• The White House press corps is vewwy vewwy upset that they’re not breaking the big stories anymore and that Barack Obama seems to be avoiding them. Since their last question at a formal Obama press conference included such important topics as Henry Louis Gates, that may answer the second point. On the first, getting out and reporting stories could help instead of blow-drying their hair and hanging around the press office looking for free pastries.
• The repeal of the insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption may be the clarifying fight that Democrats need. I’ve heard plenty that its effect would be minimal, but by that logic, why have anti-trust laws at all? Its impact is only limited by the effectiveness of the Justice Department’s anti-trust division. What’s more, it draws clear battle lines.
• Megan Carpentier has a great piece summarizing that New York Times story yesterday about AIG and Goldman Sachs. The bottom line is that Tim Geithner and Henry Paulson should be asked many, many more questions about all of this.
• Meanwhile, in proof that there are plenty of second acts in American finance, John Thain, the disgraced former Merrill Lynch CEO known for redecorating his office while the financial crisis percolated, has a new gig (for $6 million a year) as head of CIT, a small business lender which flirted with bankruptcy last year.
• This is a nearly impossible district, but Billy Kennedy looks like an interesting candidate to go against Republican nutball Virginia Foxx.
• I don’t think there’s a bigger comeback story in global politics than in Ukraine, where the guy who was thrown out of office during the Orange Revolution just won the subsequent election.
• Love among the neoconservative set: Niall Ferguson leaves his wife for Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Money quote: ‘It’s tricky to find men when you’re living under a fatwa.’
• Tom Matzzie, who led some of the anti-war efforts when John Murtha came out against the Iraq war in late 2005, has a great appreciation of the late Congressman. No politician is perfect, but Murtha did help give progressives some courage on national security and arguably led to the Democratic takeover of the House in 2006. His courage could be used on other issues now.



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Gee whiz. I wonder why?
Lehman Brothers Examiner Files Sealed Report on Probe (Update2)
February 08, 2010, 05:37 PM EST
“An examiner probing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s 2008 failure filed under seal his report investigating whether banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc triggered or improperly benefitted from Lehman’s $639 billion bankruptcy.”
“Examiner Anton Valukas said today in court filings he would ask a judge for help in making the report public if people he interviewed didn’t consent to lift their demands for confidentiality. The report is about 2,200 pages excluding appendixes, and divulges so much “protected information” that it would be impractical to black out those parts before publication, he said.”
Link.
Fortunately, I publish on the Internet and not on my hand, and so I have far more space for a roundup than the six words on that Alaskan Palm Pilot from the weekend.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
that is phunnie !!!!
faux douchebags said she did that on purpose knowing that it would elicit the response that it did and also to mock obama’s use of teleprompters. the telehand or some such chit.
anyways, a phunnie lede to the Roundup !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me guess, the six words were “I am not a dope. Also.”
Does this mean HHS might actually DO something? (Hint: don’t hold your breath.)
HHS secretary asks insurer to justify rate hike
“The Obama administration on Monday asked California’s largest for-profit health insurer to justify plans to hike customers’ premiums by as much as 39 percent, a move that could affect some 800,000 people.
. . .
‘”I believe Anthem Blue Cross has a responsibility to provide a detailed justification for these rate increases to the public,” Sebelius wrote. She said the company should also make public what percentage of customers’ premiums go to medical care versus administrative costs.”
Link.
• Lots of people talking about Steve Clemons’ post and its commentary on the Edward Luce piece on the Obama inner circle – specifically, the “Chicago crowd” of Emanuel, Axelrod, Jarrett and Gibbs. … I think the best locus for your concern is with … Barack Obama, who after all built his own White House staff.
Unfortunately, I was saying this back in June/July, but no one was listening then. I guess people have to be kicked in the gut and feel totally used before they call a phony and phony.
BO hired his henchmen, they all huddled to come up with their conservative agendae, and screwed all his most ardent supporters and voters. He got his photo in the Oval Office, his name in Encyclopaedia Britanica and the school history books Wow, the first African American Democratic President, but alas, he was a major heartbreak for all democracy loving Americans. The biggest surprise for Obama supporters and voters: he was really a neo-conservative tea drinker!
:facepalm:
They’re nervous about most everything except the American people.
Watch out! Here it comes.
Buying Spree Nets China Stakes in Top U.S. Firms
“China’s sovereign wealth fund quietly snapped up more than $9 billion worth of shares last year in some of the biggest American corporations, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup.
“Although most of the stakes were small, China Investment Corp., the government’s $300 billion investment fund, now owns stock in some of the best-known American brands, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola and Visa, David Barboza and Keith Bradsher report in The New York Times.”
Link.
Not that anything will necessarily come of it, but it’s interesting.
As Blair blasts Iraq ‘conspiracy’ hunt, British officials eye Bush, aides
Link.