Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

At Asia Times, Melody Kemp writes, New case for US reparations in Laos:

Laos carries the tragic distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in the history of modern warfare. Thirty-five years after the United States wound up its so-called "secret war" against communist guerillas, the impact of its unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to take a heavy human and economic toll.

A new report published jointly by UXO Lao and the Lao National Regulatory Authority (NRA) has shed more light on the damage caused by the US's UXOs. The research surveyed 94% of Lao households and concluded that an estimated 20,000 people had died from UXOs since the conflict ended after the communist takeover in 1975.

Maligna Saignavongs, the retired head of the NRA and the country's chief negotiator for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, estimates that figure could be even higher. "In the remote areas, many people simply bleed out and die, their bodies eaten by animals. Their families may not know they died from UXO." ...

"The US State Department is keen to let people know that they have provided more assistance for UXO clearance than anyone else," said Mike Boddington, founder of the Vientiane-based, British-run Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, or COPE.

COPE's research shows that the US government, corporations and private foundations have given over $39.5 million for UXO clean-up since 1993 - a trifling sum compared with the billions it has allocated for its new generation of wars. A US Senate committee recently recommended committing $7 million for UXO clearance in Laos in 2011 and $3.5 for similar activities in Vietnam. The US Congress allocated about $5 million and the US State Department $1.9 million for UXO clearance in Laos this year. ...

During the conflict, the largest numbers of bombing-related fatalities came among soldiers. Nowadays, it's farmers, fisherfolk, foresters and women and children foraging for food in UXO-contaminated areas. That is, those being killed now by what is known to be US ordnance are civilians merely trying to make a living. Many of those killed and injured, such as the five children killed in southern Champassak province in February this year, were not even alive during the war.

• • • • •

At Daily Kos on this date in 2006:

The sordid story of ... George Allen's activist racism has grown this week to include an article in The Nation featuring a 1996 photograph of Allen posing with the leadership of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC).

The ADL and the SPLC both have extensive posts warning the public that the CCC is a white supremacist hate group.  But in today's world, it is much more revealing to find instances where loud and proud White Supremacists actually mention and praise the same CCC standing like nervous prom dates posing in the photo with Governor George Allen.  So, I decided to try some basic Google searches to see what I could find.

The results took me back to my old friends at Stormfront and to some new friends at KKK.com.

Tonight's rescue brought to you by BentLiberal, claude, dadanation, Got a Grip, Purple Priestess, and YatPundit, with srkp23 editing.

• While we ponder whether or not our breakfast might kill us, Deep Harm explains that food supply safety was compromised because Whistleblowers at contaminated egg facility were ignored. (Got a Grip)
• mwmwm explores the unnatural conditions we humans have created and what that may portend for the world at large as we keep Rolling the dice with evolution. (Got a Grip)
• SLKRR presents a fact-filled and interesting article on elections in Brazil where voting is mandatory and voters sometimes have to choose between 100 candidates. Read more in Brazilian Election Primer II. (BentLiberal)
• americandad examines The great churchless lie about Islamic nations. (Got a Grip)
• RenaRF has pulled on her gumboots for the long, hard slog ahead in this electoral season and explains why My Experience Matters. (Got a Grip)
• Muskegon Critic has been scared, and agrees with Fred Johnson when he asks, "Aren't you tired of being scared?" (YatPundit)
• gtomkins, without hysteria, lays out how the Republicans might attempt to stymie the House and concludes that There won't be a government shutdown. (Purple Priestess)

jotter serves up High Impact Diaries: September 2, 2010.

asimbagirl brings Top Comments: Challah edition.

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread.

A lively discussion in the comments of yesterday’s Snapshot update, along with the release of a handful of new public polls today, warrants a pre-Labor Day update to the Snapshot.

Today, I am only showing numbers with Rasmussen polling included (I think it reads easier that way, plus the snapshot with Rasmussen polls is the "official" projection). Also, Charlie Crist’s chances of victory are now evenly distributed between Democrats and Republicans, rather than calculated on their own. Here is the update:

Senate Snapshot, September 3rd

I do not publish polling averages for any campaign that is further out than 18.5%. I would prefer not to publish any polling averages for campaigns that are further out than 11.0%, given that 10.56% is the largest error ever recorded in the 145 general election, statewide polling averages I looked at to produce this methodology. (The 10.56% instance was the 2006 Idaho Governor’s campaign.) The fewer campaigns displayed, the easier the chart is to understand. Showing real blowouts, such as Indiana, Iowa, and Oregon, just increases the signal to noise ration by prominently displaying blowout campaigns. They are displayed here to see if people agree with that assessment.

Other commenters were upset that candidates trailing by only 1% or 2% in the polling averages were projected with small chances of victory, such as 36% or 22%. There are two reasons to justify those low percentages. First, because the win percentages are based on if the election were held today. Second, it is because simple poll averaging is actually very accurate. For all the distrust in polling, for all the worries about machine fraud, for all the complaints about how certain polls do not include a large enough sample of one demographic or other, and for all the complaints about certain likely voter models, polling in general election, high profile, statewide campaigns has proven to be a very accurate predictor of final results. The median error for the methodology I use is a minuscule 1.76 from final predicted polling margin to final vote results.

Finally, in response to those commenters who object that certain candidates being ahead even though they suck, such as Dino Rossi and Carly Fiorina, well, I don’t know what to tell you. Polling is the only factors I include in the snapshot. Qualitative factors are not considered. We should all be very worried about Senators such as Patty Murray, Barbara Boxer, and Russ Feingold.

Please, keep your questions and comments coming. Your feedback has dramatically improved the Senate Snapshot.

Notes
--This is a snapshot, not a forecast. All of the odds presented here are based on if the election were held today. It is not a prediction of future trends.

--If a campaign isn't listed here, then it is not currently as close as any of the campaigns listed here.

--A * indicates that the candidate has a primary challenger, but is the favorite to win the nomination.

--All polls used in the averages are taken from Pollster.com.

--A complete description of the methodology behind this forecast, along with all the research and a FAQ, can be found here.

Despite the best efforts to get him off the ballot on the part of the Republican party of Colorado, the Tea Party of Colorado, and the American Constitution Party of Colorado (or anyone, Tom Tancredo who is running on that ballot line) following his embarrassing lies about being an undercover cop, Dan Maes ain't going anywhere and will be on the official ballot in November.

And there's every chance that this will get even more entertaining:

In a meeting Friday morning, party chairman Dick Wadhams and other members of the state GOP executive committee met with Maes to present what one called "damaging evidence" that hasn’t yet been made public but would further erode his standing as a candidate, according to the source.

Either they were blowing smoke trying to chase out Maes, or Tancredo is going to have a field day attacking Maes with this "damaging evidence." Nonetheless, not the smartest move to telegraph that publicly on Wadhams' part. Now the oppo on the official Republican candidate for governor is really going to start.

You might remember Honeywell CEO David Cote from this story about his role on the catfood commission.

A source familiar with the proceedings of the working group on discretionary spending tells TPM that some commissioners, including one military contractor, would prefer to save money by freezing military pay and scaling back benefits, rather than by eliminating waste in defense contracting.

The source said that different members of the commission come down on different sides of the issue. The discussion group is led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), whose primary aim is trimming fat on the contractor side, but, according to the source, David Cote, the Honeywell CEO who was appointed to the panel by President Obama, is pushing to find savings elsewhere.

That raised a few eyebrows, but that's not the only problem with Cote's presence on the committee. Not by a long shot.

A second member of the deficit commission is coming under fire from an ally of President Obama, as the Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees is pressing him to remove Honeywell CEO David Cote from the panel, charging that his ongoing lockout of workers makes him unfit to sit on the commission....

The specific offense that has the steelworkers calling for his dismissal is related to a lockout at the company's Metropolis, Illinois workers. Cote is attempting to cut the union's health benefits, but employees there argue that their exposure to carcinogens and toxic substances means that such insurance is necessary. Given the dangerous nature of the factory's work, the employees offered to continue working through the negotiations under the old contract, but Cote locked them out, replacing them with poorly trained temporary workers....

"A profitable company's demands that workers and retirees relinquish health benefits and its locking out workers who offered to continue demonstrate that its CEO, David Cote, is out of touch with mainstream America and has absolutely no compassion for his fellow man," they wrote. "Anyone who would force their workers onto the streets in these times of economic uncertainty cannot competently or justly serve on a Commission charged with issuing recommendations that may impact our nation's citizens for decades."

The lockout of those workers doesn't just make him unfit for the deficit commission, but has also led the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop the facility's uranium enrichment production.

Currently, the workers running the plant are unfamiliar with the system they are using and unfamiliar with the processes. This is a uranium enrichment facility from which even the slightest leak of UF6 could wipe out the entire town.

For this reason, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not allowed the plant to resume production of UF6 according to local community and union sources. Local community and union officials claim that Honeywell is currently using all the political connections it can to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to re-open it.

Honeywell originally said they would start up production of the deadly UF6 on Wednesday, however, Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors would not allow it. The Nuclear Regulatory Inspectors informed local community and union officials that they would not allow it because on Aug. 25 a round of urine tests on workers showed an unusually high amount of uranium in workers' urine. The workers were not permitted to return to working with the uranium. Neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or Honeywell could be reached for comment to confirm the claims of local community members and union officials.

So it's no surprise that this guy who is willing to risk wiping out the town of Metropolis, Illinois and who is perfectly wiling to ruin the lives and livelihoods of his own employees also wants to also cut benefits and pay for military service members and veterans. But what is a surprise is that he's a member of the catfood commission in the first place, and remains there.

Disclosure: I'm doing paid work on filibuster reform in the Senate for ProgressiveCongress.org, supported in part by CREDO Action and Blue America. We need your help to continue this work, and you can do it at no cost to you by signing CREDO Action's petition. Or hell, let it cost you something and go donate at Blue America's ActBlue page.

The launch of the Daily Kos Senate rules reform petition has raised a key question. What, exactly, are we asking for in this filibuster reform campaign?

Well, there are three things -- broadly speaking -- that need to happen in order to see rules reform implemented in the 112th Congress. First, we need for Senators to uphold their right to adopt new rules by a simple majority. Can that be done? Sure. Absolutely. It's not the adoption of a new rule that requires a 2/3 vote, as many have come to believe. That can and always has been done by a simple majority. What requires a 2/3 vote is invoking cloture on a rules change. But adopting the rule itself by simple majority vote? No problem. That's the actual, existing threshold. Because it is by default the actual, existing threshold for every substantive vote in the Senate. So in that sense, there's really nothing about this that has to happen, per se. It's already the rule. Yet we still find that the cloture issue and the actual adoption of new rules are so often conflated, it becomes a "task" in itself to remind everyone what the ground rules really are.

The second part is where it gets tough, but it's also where you can be of the most help. At this point, we'll need the Senators to uphold their right to end debate with a simple majority vote. Can that be done? Yes it can.

Now, this part worries a lot of people. They favor filibuster reform of some kind, but they aren't necessarily sure they want to see it eliminated entirely. So they worry that if the Senate asserts its right to end debate by a simple majority vote, that ends the question for ever after, and the filibuster has been eliminated.

But that ignores an important detail of the procedure that's sometimes described as the "constitutional option," which is that at the beginning of a new Congress, before any routine business is conducted, the Senate has the option of agreeing to proceed under the old rules, or instead moving to consider them anew. What that means is that the Senate is at that point operating outside of the rules, and closing debate by majority vote at that point does not by itself determine the Senate's cloture rules going forward. The Senate will not yet, at that point, have considered any actual proposed rules change. It will simply have voted to end debate on the proposed prospective change (or the motion to proceed to consideration of that change). There still has to be a vote on whether or not to adopt some proposed change, and that's a very different question. In fact, it's the third of the things that have to happen that I mentioned at the top.

What that change should be is still the subject of some debate, both among interested activists, and most assuredly among Senators themselves. And you can be sure that when it comes to the rules, the serious discussion and real decision making is happening Senator-to-Senator. Not here on the blogs, not on the op-ed pages, and not even among top Hill staffers. What we might want to see as the final product of rules reform ultimately doesn't really matter that much. Senators will regard this as something they'll have to work out for themselves.

But whatever you might think is the best and wisest reform, none of it happens without first acknowledging the Senate's right to determine its own rules of procedure at the beginning of a new Congress by majority vote. What new rules Senators might choose to adopt in place of the old is up to them, and it may well be that they ultimately find themselves unready to accept pure majority rule in all instances as the everyday standard in the Senate. But that's a decision they must first assert their right to make, and it starts by acknowledging that the Constitution confers that right free from the obstruction or binding of previous and defunct Senates.

So, to review:

1. A majority of Senators insist on their right (and back it up with their votes) to consider rules changes and bring them to an actual vote by ending debate.
2. Determine what those changes -- including any new rules about cloture -- will actually be for the rest of the session.
3. Adopt those changes by majority vote.

There's nothing at all inconsistent about advocating for majority cloture on a new Senate's motion to consider new rules and advocating for some different cloture standard to be adopted going forward. And truthfully, Senators are going to be a lot less open to public pressure on what procedural rules they should agree to operate under in their daily work than they're likely to be to public pressure to stop pretending they don't have the power to adopt the reforms of their choice. That means that our role as activists is to let them know that we know that they have the power to respond to our demands that some reform be made. And the clearer we are about that, the better the chances they'll exercise that power.

What they do with it, though, is up to them. We can beg, plead and cajole, of course. We can tell them what we think might work best. But the decision is theirs to make. That's the power we've given them under the Constitution. We just need to let them know that the cat's out of the bag on rules changes, and that with a clear path available to them, they'll be accountable for the decision to adopt reform or turn their backs on it.

But remember, no matter what you may think is the most pragmatic, the most moderate, or the most level-headed reform, there's nothing pragmatic, moderate or level-headed about it if you don't acknowledge that step one in the process is agreeing -- even if only for one day every two years -- that the Senate has the right to hold a vote to implement that reform. Because there's nothing pragmatic, moderate or level-headed about fantasy.

That's why the Daily Kos petition on Senate rules reform reads so simply:

We need you to agree that the Senate can, and should, change its rules with a simple majority vote on the first day it is in session in 2011.

PPP crunches their data.

We hear about the enthusiasm gap all the time, usually in pretty abstract terms. Here it is in black and white: in 10 key races for Senate and Governor in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, and Missouri it's costing Democratic candidates (or Charlie Crist) an average of 7 points on the margin.

Per PPP's polling, if Democratic turnout matched that of 2008:

• Alex Sink in Florida and Alexi Giannoulias would lead by double digits, instead of narrowly trailing.
• Elaine Marshall in North Carolina and Pat Quinn in Illinois would be narrowly ahead, instead of behind.
• Ted Strickland and Lee Fisher in Ohio, Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania, and Robin Carnahan in Missouri would all be within three-points of their opponents, rather than trailing by 7-10 points.

The administration may delude itself into thinking the "professional left" is somehow keeping Democrats demoralized in places like Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. But fact is, people are hurting, and Democrats did little to prove they could effectively clean up George Bush's mess. They're tuning out.

The Democrats' (and our) ability to drag these people to the polls, when they have little interest in doing so, will be the difference between a bad electoral year, and a cataclysmic one.

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

They're back!

After three months on the lam, Margaret and Helen---two sassy, brassy 80-somethings (the former a Mainer, the latter a Texan)---are back in action on their blog. A snip of their must-read thoughts on the Beck "I Have A Scheme" event:

I just can’t believe 87,000 people are dumb enough to buy that crap. If Beck and Palin want a government so focused on one God and one religion, they should visit the Middle East and see how that concept is working out.  It’s gotten to the point where you can’t distinguish Fox News from the Christian Broadcasting Network.   It’s nauseating.

Palin and Beck don’t care about you, me or anyone except themselves.  They are getting filthy rich pandering to angry white mobs so transparent in their racist feelings toward the President that a sheet of Saran Wrap would cast a darker shadow.

The greatest threat against America is not terrorism.  It’s not a mosque in Manhattan.  It’s not gay marriage.  It’s not healthcare reform.  And, believe it or not, it’s not even Beck or Palin.  The greatest threat against America are the tens of millions of Americans who won’t turn out to vote this November effectively giving power to 87,000 angry assholes.

Glad they're on our team.

And here's your understatement of the day: "Pretty strong drink---it'll getcha." With hurricane Earl twirling toward Maine as I write this, make it a double.

Your west coast-friendly edition of  Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

What's coming up on Sunday Kos ....

• Dante Atkins will elaborate on the idea that all government spending is not equal.
• Steve Singiser will look at some of the demographic assumptions being made by pollsters in this cycle, how they deviate from past midterms, and whether they even matter in the prognosis for Democratic fortunes in the upcoming midterms.
• DarkSyde lands an interview with the most famous scientist of our generation
• A recent poll found that nearly half the country thinks it's "too easy" to get an abortion in America today. Kaili Joy Gray will beg to differ.
• Meteor Blades will explain the very simple reasons he'll vote "aye" in November on California's Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana. And it's not just because he's a DFH.
• Laurence Lewis will look behind Glenn Beck's clown act to the real danger it serves to mask.

Middle-class families have lost jobs, homes and savings for their children's education or their own retirement as a consequence of the Great Recession. But for many the problem started a long time ago. Over the past 30 years, 34.6% of all income growth went to the top one-tenth of 1% of all earners. The bottom 90% has collectively gotten only 15.9% of all income growth over the same period. The recession has made that situation worse. In fact, according to a just-released poll commissioned by the union-backed worker-advocacy organization Change to Win, the recession problem affecting the largest number of Americans – worse than actual job loss – has been "declining or stagnating wages."

Three-fourths of those surveyed by Hart Research Associates said they themselves or someone they know has been hurt by wages that lag behind the cost of living. Sixty-eight percent said they or someone they know has seen their wages cut.

“This survey reinforces what the economic data have been screaming out for more than a generation: A hard-day’s work in America simply doesn’t pay what it used to – unless you’re a corporate executive, and then you’re getting paid more than you’re worth,” said Tom Woodruff, Director of the Strategic Organizing Center for Change to Win. “To cure what ails our economy we need to create not just jobs, but jobs at good wages. We can start by using the power of the purse. Let’s look at how the federal government can promote higher wages, leveraging the $500 billion in federal contracts it awards to private employers every year. ... For 30 years, Americans have been working harder than ever, but their pay, in real terms, has hardly budged,” Woodruff said. “So where has all that money gone? To massive Wall St. bonuses and CEO salaries.”

Among the survey's other findings:

• Delayed or canceled medical treatment because of cost, 27 percent. Know somebody who did this, 50 percent.

• More women (71 percent) than men (65 percent) say they have been affected by reduced wages or hours.

• Nearly half (47 percent) of voters say they, a family member, or someone they know well  has fallen behind on mortgage payments or rent in the past few months.  

• Among Republicans, 96 percent say they are dissatisfied with the economic state of affairs, including 77 percent who are very dissatisfied (only 4 percent are satisfied). Among Democrats, 19 percent are satisfied and 79 percent dissatisfied, with 39 percent of those very dissatisified.

• More than three in five (62 percent) non-college graduates say they are having  challenging/difficult times, while their college-educated peers are split 49 percent good  times and 49 percent challenging/difficult times.

• A little more than half (53 percent) of whites express having a hard time personally, while minority voters say they are having a much harder time.  Two-thirds  (66 percent percent of African Americans say they are having a challenging or difficult time,  with a quarter (26% percent saying they are having difficult times.  Latinos report  even greater struggles, as 71 percent say they are struggling, including 35 percent saying  they are having difficult times.

Given what's now clear to all but the most optimistic analysts, without a major redirection of government policy, unemployment will remain high for years, and that means a continuation of the suppression of wage growth.

The American Prospect has devoted its entire October magazine to what should be done about the job situation, including the problem presented by wage stagnation, with articles about the sweatshop operations now contracted to feed U.S. troops and the difficulties associated with American workers' loss of bargaining power.

One of those articles, written by Ann O'Leary, executive director of the Berkeley Center on health, Economic & Family Security at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, argues for more executive orders from the President:

The Obama administration is considering a proposal to use the president's authority under the Procurement Act to promote "high road" contracting. Variants of the proposal have been put forward by the Center for American Progress and the National Employment Law Project with support from the Change to Win labor federation and the Service Employees International Union. ...

This proposal could have a real impact on low-wage workers. It would mean that more workers would be protected by existing laws -- from employee -- classification laws to wage and hour laws to the Family and Medical Leave Act. It would also mean that low-wage workers, who currently have the least access to paid sick days and by definition the lowest-wages, could benefit from the incentives provided to contractors to offer living wages and paid sick days.

That's just one of many actions needed to begin healing the wounds resulting from the economic battering imposed on workers over the past 35 years.

California's Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown get to continue to do the right thing:

The outlook for the legal defense of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, grew cloudier Thursday as a state appellate court refused to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal a federal judge's ruling overturning the measure.

The Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento dismissed without comment a lawsuit seeking to compel the state to come to the initiative's defense. The suit was filed Monday by the conservative Pacific Justice Institute on behalf of a Los Angeles-area minister.

Why does it matter so much? Because in his decision overturning Proposition 8, Judge Walker expressed a great deal of skepticism as to whether the Defendant-Intervenors have the standing required to defend Prop 8 before the Court of Appeals. The State of California obviously has standing to defends its own laws; but previous precedent dictates that merely supporting a ballot measure does not necessarily provide standing to defend it in court. So unless the State is forced to defend Prop 8, it's entirely possible that any appeal could be dead on arrival.

Two points of irony. First, it was a series of rulings from conservative courts that made standing so restrictive. Second, why does it seem like "states' rights" get thrown out the window every single time a state does something that a state's rights advocate doesn't like?

Wow, one little lie about being an undercover cop who got too close to official corruption and you're booted, even from the Tea Party. Apparently making up stories about your personal history is worse than believing in the grand UN bicycle conspiracy. At any rate, Colorado gubenatorial candidate Dan Maes is nobody's darling anymore.

Despite mounting pressure from the GOP establishment and Tea Party groups to get out of the governor's race, Republican Dan Maes continued to dig in his heels Thursday, saying he wasn't going anywhere.

"This is a culture war, a culture war between the people and the machine, and we're going to find out who controls things," Maes said. "I am not getting out of the race."
....

[A] Denver Post story this week reporting that Maes embellished details about his law enforcement background combined with today's deadline for certification of the general election ballot prompted a string of defections. Soon after the story was published, Hank Brown, a former U.S. senator and former University of Colorado president, withdrew his endorsement, setting off a domino effect not only among prominent Republicans, but Maes' core, grassroots base.

Tea Party leaders across the state Thursday said in often harsh terms that they wanted Maes to drop out. Lesley Hollywood, director of the Northern Colorado Tea Party, posted on Facebook: "Alright Dan Maes — it's time for you to go. Get out now, while the gettin' is still good."

Mesa County commissioner and Tea Party organizer Janet Rowland called Maes a "fraud" in an e-mail sent to thousands of grassroots supporters and asked them not to support his candidacy. Hear Us Now!, which bills itself as the original tax-day Tea Party group, rescinded its endorsement.

What's a beleaguered Tea Party candidate to do? Why, just what Sarah Palin would! Take to Facebook, where Maes defiantly claims: "We are in the 4th quarter of the game and we must dig deeper than ever into our souls to find the strength to fight to . . . the end. Do not waiver. Do not quit. This is all part of the journey."

But state Republicans met with him today to try to force him out, and he lost the support of Senate candidate Ken Buck. If he leaves the race today, there's time to get the secretary of state to halt printing ballots while the party decides on his replacement. After today, it'll apparently be to late to stop the printing.

Hang in there Maes! Don't let Tancredo monopolize all the crazy fun.

Let's go back to the 1950s, says Ken Buck, GOP candidate for Senator in Colorado.

Buck: He still has his recorder on right there... [points, laughter]

Question: [brief lead-in] What plans do you have to make public education better in America?

Buck: "Let's talk about that [education] folks. In the 1950s, we had the best schools in the world. And the United States government decided to get more involved in federal education. [Pols emphasis] Where are we now, after all those years of federal involvement, are we better or are we worse? So what's the federal government's answer? Well since we've made education worse, we're gonna even get more involved. And what's gonna be the result?  It's kinda like health care. We've screwed up health care--Medicare--we've screwed up all kinds of other things, so what are we gonna do? We're gonna get even more involved in health care.  What are we going to do? We're gonna get more involved in education.

As Colorado Pols points out in this piece, most of the real federal investment in education came a lot later, in the 60s and 70s. What was the primary feature of education in the 50s (other than Bert the turtle films?).

Is this the "Rand Paul moment" for Ken Buck, folks? Most of the increases in federal funding for education, the federally-guaranteed student loans that Buck so famously wants to do away with, and other federal "involvement," happened in the 1960s, not the 1950s: the federal Department of Education didn't itself exist until 1980. In addition, before the 1965 federal student loan program we know today, which uses private lenders and federal loan guarantees, student loans were made directly by the U.S. Treasury. Is that his conservative vision?

....

Of course, there was that little matter of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, later enforced by federal troops on a rather unwilling local government in Little Rock. Which would very certainly come under the heading of "federal involvement" in education, wouldn't it? As a matter of fact, wasn't that a big argument about "local control," if you set aside the messy racist stuff?

Yeah, that whole pesky Civil Rights era progress again. Wasn't life a lot better for the Ken Bucks and Rand Pauls of the world before brown people could start associating with them? Oh, and before Medicare "screwed up health care," too. You really need no more proof that women, minorities, and seniors don't really have a part in Ken Buck's world.

• Crazy shit.

  Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of Daniel Millis, convicted of littering because he left sealed bottles of drinking water in a desert wildlife refuge. He explained that he left them "along frequently traveled routes for unlawful entrants to the United States." He belongs to a group called "No More Deaths," and the opinion quotes his testimony: "humanitarian aide [sic] is never a crime."

  The majority overturned his conviction because a reasonable person might not understand that leaving drinking water for people dying of thirst is littering. The United States countered that the water bottles constitute "garbage" in the sense of the statute. After foraging through some dictionary definitions of "garbage" and "discarded," the majority concludes that the regulation is too ambiguous to enforce in this case.

  Guess who dissented? Judge Jay Bybee -- the author of the torture memo:

  Littering is littering, and Bybee finds that the regulation is as clear as a sunny day in the desert. This is the same Jay Bybee who thinks that terms like "torture" and "severe suffering" are so vague that it would be unfair to apply statutes prohibiting them to interrogators who waterboard people and keep them awake for a week at a time, naked and hanging in chains.

• More on Newt Gingrich's latest idiocy:

  Newt now believes Congress can designate Ground Zero as "a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site." Putting aside whether this is a good idea or not, even if Congress did as Gingrich suggests, it wouldn't make any difference -- because no one is talking about building the community center at Ground Zero.

  Maybe Newt means to designate all of Manhattan as a "battlefield site"? That way, his dream of big federal government oversight of local zoning laws would be fulfilled.

• Republicans hate lots of people -- brown people, gay people, single women, Muslims, immigrants, atheists, people in the Bay Area, Hollywood, New York, Massachusetts, Chicago, the French, and obviously liberals. You can now add Greeks to the list.
• Atrios:

  It's incredible to me that genius political strategists think that what voters really want are tepid and timid half measures.

  Dems are paralyzed with fear. Have been, in fact, for much of the last year and a half.

  They were so worried about what ads Republicans would run against them, and in bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship, that now, their worst fears will be realized.

  But really, being even more timid ain't gonna cut it.

• And what Digby said:

  Those who are paying close attention realize that [Republicans] either care more about destroying the socialist/Muslim menace or they care more about taking back the power they so recently lost. But either way, they do appear to give a damn. The Democrats, on the other hand, rather than coming out with their guns blazing at those who have made it impossible for them to fix these problems seem content with trying to convince people that it isn't as bad as they think it is.

  You know --- like when your friend tries to convince you that you shouldn't be upset about something you are upset about. It's annoying. And you realize very quickly that they just don't want to hear about it anymore. That's how the Democrats seem right now --- that they are sick of hearing about it.

• Sharron Angle and the rest of the GOP may think the unemployed are lazy, but in reality they're fueling a flood of volunteerism.
• Ha ha!

Every American knows that September 11 is the most holy day of the year, a day to put aside partisan politics. Which is why Republicans in York County, South Carolina were outraged that Democrats planned a barbecue and campaign rally on that holiest of holy days.

The day should be reserved for remembering terror attack victims and troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, GOP Chairman Glenn McCall said Tuesday.

"September 11 is not a day for partisan political rallies," McCall said. "It's a time for us to look beyond what divides us and come together to remember those who lost their lives."

Even Republican candidate for governor Nikki Haley got in on the action.

"If Senator Sheheen thinks it's appropriate to hold a partisan campaign rally on Sept. 11, that's his prerogative," Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said. "Our campaign made a decision not to hold political events that day in order to keep the focus where it should be - on honoring the victims and praying for our troops who are fighting and dying for us."

So noble.

Which is why it's so surprising that Republicans have no problem at all with a teabagger rally scheduled for -- that's right -- September 11.

Why? Because the Tea Party is "nonpartisan."

McCall said Thursday he has no problem with the tea party rally because it's not partisan in nature.

"There are Democrats and Republicans in the tea party," he said. "It's a nonpartisan event of citizens getting together. That's the key point."

And what better way to "look beyond what divides us and come together to remember those who lost their lives" than to attend a teabagger rally that, if it's anything like all the other teabagger rallies around the country, will be just another hatefest devoted to questioning the president's citizenship, whining about the government's involvement in Medicare, and demanding more tax cuts for the rich?

It's probably just a coincidence that all of the guests scheduled to speak at the teabagger rally happen to be conservatives. Like the president of the Palmetto Family Council, which operates in association with Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.

So very nonpartisan, those teabaggers.

But then, as we all know, only conservatives have a right to honor 9/11.

At Grist, Randy Rieland writes:

Ready for your morning bowl of crazy? Five years ago, Congress set aside millions of acres of public land in the Southwest for the development of solar farms. This was primo real estate for solar, considered one of the best spots in the world. So far not one solar panel has been erected.

Oh, you want us to build something? This discouraging news comes courtesy of the AP's Jason Dearen, whose investigation shows that the understaffed U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) focused almost all its time on approving oil and gas projects and leased the land on a first-come, first-served basis, often to outfits with little or no experience in actually building solar farms.

Case in point: Cogentrix Solar Services, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. Cogentrix had zero solar experience, but holds leases on nearly half the Nevada acreage for which applications have been filed. Another sickening stat: In the last five years, the BLM has approved more than 73,000 oil and gas leases on public land, but hasn't given final approval to one solar lease. Not a one. Writes Dearen:

BLM's solar leasing system ended up allowing developers to lay claim to prime sites -- many located in the deserts that span California, Nevada, and Arizona. All developers had to do was fill out an application, pay a fee and file development plans. But many were so vague that it was difficult for BLM to separate the serious projects from the speculative ones.

• • • • •

Green diary rescue appears Thursdays and Sundays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it. The rescue begins below and continues in the jump.

• • • • •

Haole in Hawaii posted another photo diary of Hawai'i Underwater: "These photos were taken during a handful of dives over the past two weekends including a night dive last night at Pupukea Marine Reserve. I hope you enjoy your visit."

Deep Harm had looked at rotten eggs in Rodents, maggots and steaming piles of hypocrisy at egg farms:  "The inspectors found manure piles up to 8 feet high, holding doors open and giving wildlife access. "Wildlife" included live rodents, wild birds and a plague of flies, live and dead, including their larvae (maggots). 'Additional problems included overflowing manure pits, improper worker sanitation and wild birds [a potential source of avian influenza] roosting around feed bins,' reports The New York Times. The investigators also found salmonella bacteria in chicken feed and in barn and walkway areas, and in water used to wash eggs at a Hillandale facility.  It isn't clear, yet, which came first:  the salmonella or the egg."

Tonight's Diary Rescue comes to you courtesy of the hard work and diligence of the following Rescue Rangers: Louisiana1976, ItsJessMe, YatPundit, sunspark says and srkp23. dadanation is thought to have done double duty both rescuing and editing, but we all have our doubts...

thE rescueD diarieS

• Young diarist Earley Post tells us that regarding corporate influence in politics, "What if...?" iis the Wrong Question. (Louisiana 1976)
• amybdean graces us with an eloquent essay steeped in memory all the while looking towards the future: Labor Day’s Legacy: A More Inclusive America. (dadanation)
• Ojibwa keeps on teaching: Indians 101: The Tuscarora & the Iroquois League. (srkp23)
• faithfull brings to light a most unsettling reality in West Virginia due to Nike in Mountaintop Removal - JUST DO IT! (dadanation)
• americandad provides a Wisconsin congressman with a Wisconsin (and American) history lesson in May God smite us with Rep. Paul Ryan's "cancer"! (sunspark says)

thE usuaL suspectS

jotter has High Impact Diaries: September 1, 2010.

sardonyx brings us tonight's Top Comments: Blameless Edition.

thE requisitE disclaimeR

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

There is a lot of polling in the Thursday edition of the Wrap, and little-to-none of it is bound to make Democrats terribly optimistic about the direction in which the 2010 election cycle is heading.

Sure, a lot of the less-than-charitable data comes from partisan sources. But even a couple of independent sources come up with data that shows Democrats in considerably bleaker positions than earlier data would seem to indicate.

That warning offered in advance, let's trudge forward with the Thursday edition of the Wrap....

THE U.S. SENATE

FL-Sen: Crist internal gives him (narrow lead), as he gains Dem nod
Given where public polling was on this race as recently as three weeks ago, it is hard to get a lot of confidence for Independent Charlie Crist based on the release of his own internal polling by Keith Fredrick. The new poll gives Crist a lead of just a single point, with Crist at 35%, Rubio at 34%, and Kendrick Meek well behind the pack at 17%. Crist did get some welcome news today, as he locked in a surprising endorsement in the form of state senator Al Lawson. Lawson just finished with a closer-than-expected primary challenge to Congressman Allen Boyd, one in which he challenged Boyd to his left. Lawson's defection is particularly notable, given that he is an African-American Democrat who is choosing Crist over Kendrick Meek, who is seeking to be the first African-American member of the U.S. Senate ever from the state of Florida.

KY-Sen: New Braun Research poll puts Paul back in the lead
Braun Research is back with their semi-regular survey of Kentucky on behalf of CN|2, and their assessment of the race has changed quite a bit in the past few weeks. After giving Democrat Jack Conway a one-point lead in their last survey, the pollster moves Republican Rand Paul back into the lead. The new numbers put Paul at 42% and Conway at 37%. The poll also decides to look ahead to 2011, where they find Democratic Governor Steve Beshear in position to get re-elected narrowly, as he leads Republican challenger David Williams by six points.

NY-Sen: Primary poll puts undecided in the lead...by a lot
In a sign of how pedestrian the Republican primary to challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been, half of the GOP electorate is still undecided with less than two weeks to go, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll of the Empire State. Former Congressman Joe DioGuardi paces the field with 28% of the vote, with David Malpass trailing at 12% and Bruce Blakeman in the third spot at 10% of the vote.

OH-Sen: PPP poll gives Portman a solid edge over Fisher
PPP's new poll out of the Buckeye State is a reversal of fortune from the previous PPP survey in the state. Republican Rob Portman has pulled out to a seven-point lead over Democrat Lee Fisher (45-38). Tom Jensen of PPP points to an interesting dichotomy among the undecideds: they voted for Obama in 2008 by a two-to-one margin, but have a net disapproval (40-46) of the President at this point. What direction will those folks head in November? This pattern could be repeated in races all over the country.

THE U.S. HOUSE

IA-03: Boswell gets key endorsement as Dems hammer Zaun
In agricultural Iowa, incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell got a key endorsement in his dangerously close battle with Republican Brad Zaun in the swing 3rd district. Boswell won the endorsement of the Iowa Corn Growers yesterday. Meanwhile, Iowa Democrats have launched a hard hitting ad on Brad Zaun that goes after the Republican for a domestic incident in 2001 that recently came to light (for what it's worth, DMR columnist Kathie Obradovich is not a fan of the ad).

NY-23: Hoffman vows to fight until November
For those hoping for some delicious Republican infighting saving a tough seat for the Dems, you are about to get some love from a very familiar source. Doug Hoffman has now made it clear--if he does not win the Republican primary in a couple of weeks, he will continue onward to the general election as the nominee of the Conservative Party. Interestingly, the Tea Party that launched Hoffman to prominence in 2009 is making it clear that they may not go along for the ride in November if Hoffman decides to split the conservative vote yet again.

PA-12: GOP internal predicts GOP to snag Murtha seat in November
Democrat Mark Critz might have won the special election to replace John Murtha in May, but a new internal poll out from Public Opinion Strategies is claiming that Republican Tim Burns will claim the district on his second attempt in November. An internal poll from the NRCC claims that Burns is at 48%, with the newly-minted incumbent Critz five points back at 43%. The district is a swing district, one carried by both John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008 (a rarity, to be sure).

VA-05: The ugliest poll on Earth just got...uglier
Republicans crowed, and Democrats blanched, when a summer poll in the 5th district held by Democrat Tom Perriello from SurveyUSA showed the incumbent trailed by twenty-three points to Republican Rob Hurt. SurveyUSA is back in the Fifth, and the results are even worse. The pollster, which has been unrelentingly negative in its assessment of Democratic House candidates this year, has Hurt now at 61% of the vote, with Perriello well behind at 35%.

RACE FOR THE HOUSE: Ayers McHenry heads west, and the ugly continues
Consider the source (Republican pollster, partisan sponsor), but the third wave of House polls from GOP number-crunchers Ayers McHenry looks at the West, and the numbers for the Democrats there are almost universally awful. The pollster, looking at ten Democratic-held districts, has the GOP going 6-3-1 in trial heats for November. The standard caveats apply for internal polls, but the Colorado blog ColoradoPols uncovered another potential issue: the fact that the firm did not appear to poll more than the two major party candidates. In races with active teabagger candidates, that could actually matter in a close race.

AZ-01: Paul Gosar (R) 47%, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D) 41%
AZ-05: Dave Schweikert (R) 50%, Rep. Harry Mitchell (D) 44%
AZ-08: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) 46%, Jesse Kelly (R) 46%
CA-11: David Harmer (R) 45%, Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) 44%
CA-47: Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) 45%, Van Tran (R) 43%
CO-03: Scott Tipton (R) 51%, Rep. John Salazar (D) 43%
CO-04: Cory Gardner (R) 50%, Rep. Betsy Markey (D) 39%
NM-01: Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) 49%, Jon Barela (D) 42%
NV-03: Joe Heck (R) 48%, Rep. Dina Titus (D) 45%
OR-05: Rep. Kurt Schrader (D) 44%, Scott Bruun (R) 36%

THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES

FL-Gov: Scott selects running mate for November
Rick Scott made an interesting selection today, giving the nod to African American Republican state legislator Jennifer Carroll as his choice for Lt. Governor. Besides the obvious gender and racial balance represented by Carroll is a potentially more important political consideration: Carroll had been a supporter of Bill McCollum during the recently concluded primary. The thaw between Scott and supporters of McCollum could be a long time in coming, as the vanquished foe is still very reluctant to support his fellow Republican.

MD-Gov: Dems pounce on Ehrlich union endorsement
It has become common practice for Republicans to pooh-pooh union endorsements of Democrats, arguing that such endorsements are the work of the "bosses" and not good rank-and-file teachers/officers/etc. Therefore, it is a tad ironic that a rare union endorsement of a Republican candidate has such transparent evidence of such top-driven influence. The Democrats are pouncing on the endorsement of Republican Robert Ehrlich by the Maryland Classified Employees Association. Democrats were lightning-quick to point out that the union's executive director is a former Republican state legislator, who is running for office as a Republican this year (and could probably use some love from the top of the ticket).

NY-Gov: Republican primary poll shows race still in the air
Rick Lazio has been the frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination throughout the 2010 election, but that might be changing at the last, according to the new poll from Quinnipiac. Lazio's lead is down to twelve points (47-35) over businessman Carl Paladino. Lazio is probably close enough to 50% to be comfortable, but his days of having a two-to-one lead over Paladino are pretty much over.

OR-Gov: Labor comes in big for Democrat John Kitzhaber
Oregon is one of those states where donors can drop big coin on their favored candidates: at one point earlier in the cycle, the majority of Republican Chris Dudley's take came from just two donors. Labor is starting to weigh in on the race. The latest example: the AFSCME, which dropped six figures ($100K) during August into the coffers of Democratic gubernatorial nominee John Kitzhaber.

TX-Gov: Even GOP internal polls have Perry sitting at 50%
As a sign of how potentially vulnerable incumbent Republican Rick Perry truly is, even internal polling for the GOP cannot put the incumbent over 50% in his re-election bid. That said, the poll conducted by Wilson Research Strategies for GOPAC does give Perry a sizeable edge, with Perry at 50% and Democratic challenger Bill White at 38%.

THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA

Not a ton of data from the House of Ras today, but it joins the rest of the numbers from their day in that unremittingly negative tone. Team Ras-sie put both Rick Scott (FL-Gov) and Dino Rossi (WA-Sen) out in front today. The only poll that can come close to being construed as positive for Dems is the relatively small lead for GOP incumbent Sean Parnell in Alaska.

AK-Gov: Gov. Sean Parnell (R) 53%, Ethan Berkowitz (D) 43%
FL-Gov: Rick Scott (R) 45%, Alex Sink (D) 44%
WA-Sen: Dino Rossi (R) 48%, Sen. Patty Murray (D) 46%

One of the most offensive tendencies of beleaguered establishmentarians faced with the utter collapse of their precious conventional wisdom is to bemoan—or to rethink, they might protest—this brilliant representative democracy bequeathed to us by the Founders in unabashedly elitist tones. To be sure, this line of thinking often bears the appearance of innocuous experimental thoughts but bespeaks, at best, fecklessness but more likely are signs of intellectual depravity. As a liberal—affected by what may be called trademark self-flagellation—I am wont to focus on this insidious tic when it is found on the left. Conservatives and reactionaries craving for the relative warmth of authoritarianism is, to me, rather unsurprising and therefore barely worth noting. What can we expect from “small-government” folk with a nary a peep to say about the warrantless surveillance of American citizens or the stupid morality of strictly-enforced marijuana prohibition?

I can think of at least three prominent liberals that gave voice to this dangerous nonsense recently—the first of whom is quite brilliant: Woody Allen (Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors—I mean, c’mon!); Tom Friedman, the unfortunate suck-up; and Joe Klein in Time magazine just today.

I had been minding my own business, reading Time’s mild-mannered attempt to explain what has come to be regarded as Barack Obama’s stunning failure as president when the title “How Can a Democracy Solve Tough Problems?” on the right side of the screen seemed to lunge at me. (Who knew the unlikely symbiosis of ganja and righteous indignation could be that kickass?)

If you asked me, what's the most disappointing thing Barack Obama has done as President? I'd say, He appointed a "blue-ribbon" commission to study the federal deficit. I mean, how boring and worthy and worthless! Such commissions are an instant admission of defeat: We lack the political will to deal with (insert long-term crisis here), so we're appointing a blue-ribbon commission to study it. The process is inevitable, especially in these days of rising partisan contentiousness. A consensus won't be reached on the really tough issues. A high-minded, peripheral idea or two may emerge — frosting on a soap bubble — and then evaporate ... or worse, actually be implemented, as was the 9/11 commission's foolishly redundant suggestion of a Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI), plopped atop the CIA and military spook agencies. No doubt yet another commission will eventually be appointed to study abolishing the DNI.

Let’s rest here for a second. While this represents a digression from our main point here, Joe Klein’s treatment of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform as some sort of passing joke requires special attention and derision. Rather than being a source of amusement, this commission is a sinister assembly co-chaired by former senator Al Simpson (who’s more like the comically evil Creed Bratton than Homer’s dad as far as I’m concerned) and includes the likes of Paul Ryan, the House Republicans’ resident budget wonk. (Yes, there’s only one—and even he demonstrates how carelessly that encomium is bestowed these days.)

After a two-week absence, the Senate Snapshot is back. The charts are a lot cooler, but the news is grim:

Senate Snapshot, September 2nd, With Rasmussen Polls

Thanks to user Dbug, the snapshot now comes with a chart displaying the odds of each possible seat outcome:

The chances of 50 and 51 Democratic seats are almost identical, with 50 Democratic seats slightly more likely (and those totals include Sanders and Lieberman). Republicans have an 18.7% of taking control of the chamber.

Senate Snapshot, September 2nd, Without Rasmussen Polls

Without Rasmussen polls included in the averages, the picture is not much better. In fact, it is only about as good as the snapshot was one month ago, with Rasmussen polling included. A narrow Democratic majority of 52 seats is the most likely outcome:

Looking desperately for good news? President Obama's job approval is back in positive territory, according to Gallup. If the situation is going to turn around for Democrats, that positive trend will have to be more than a blip.

Notes
--This forecast is a snapshot, not a forecast. All of the odds presented here are based on if the election were held today. It is not a prediction of future trends.

--If a campaign isn't listed here, then it is not currently as close as any of the campaigns listed here.

--Charlie Crist's chances of victory are not included in the overall Democratic, or Republican, chances of victory.

--A * indicates that the candidate has a primary challenger, but is the favorite to win the nomination.

--All polls used in the averages are taken from Pollster.com.

--A complete description of the methodology behind this forecast, along with all the research and a FAQ, can be found here.