Completely Unnecessary

[Ed. - this is a little ad hoc. I was just kind of jotting down notes as I watched, enthralled...]

Blagojevich takes the stage at 11:06.

11:07: Blago knows that the ladies of The View understand the intricacies of the impeachment process.

11:09: He calls the process, ‘an evisceration of the presumption of innocence.’

11:10: He doesn’t seem to be speaking with notes. He brought in a manila folder, but doesn’t seem to be using it or looking down at it.

He’s not under oath – because he’s acting as an attorney – so he can lie all he wants and it can’t be used against him in the criminal trial.

‘You can express things in a free country’

To the politicians, ‘You know what we have to do to go out and win elections.’

11:13: He’s pretty smart – he’s arguing that the impeachment case hangs on the presumption of guilt in the criminal case, but that no criminal allegations have been proven. Unfortunately, that’s only articles 1-8. There are five more just about abuse of power.

First up, healthcare for kids –

11:16: Um, now he’s just rambling about senators he’d met when he was a freshman congressman in Washington. He was super excited to meet senators, especially John Warner. He got John Warner coffee; he takes it black. Wtf?

I’ll put the rest after the jump, so it’s not taking over the page (I know, obviously, you want to read post after post after post)

(more…)

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It’s all about compromise in Washington.

House Republicans were all in a dither about the $200 million in contraception and health spending (that would have saved $700 million), so Obama (we hope) begrudgingly asked House Democrats to remove the offending item.

And in the spirit of collegial compromise, every single Republican voted in favor of against the bill (244-188).

Yay!

Okay - first, Obama and Pelosi should ram that contraception bill straight through the House and Senate - hanging every Blue Dog who won’t toe the party line on the way.

But when we’re done with that, we need to breathe.

House Republicans thought that Obama would break his vow to compromise. So when he accommodated them, they tried to slap him with it.

They’re hoping that Obama will call Democrat War on the Republicans so they can scream to the rafters about how they saw Socialist America coming and ooh how those Dems just can’t be trusted.

So the President should make sure to keep his bipartisan spirit, but also to remember that we can pass a goodly number of bills without Republicans (even Senate Republicans).

They can spend the next four years being vaguely obstructionist, but largely ineffectual or get on board, especially when an olive branch is offered.

If they choose the former, they better hope the economy takes Obama down with it, otherwise the voters will not look so kindly on Republicans (again) in 2010.

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I’m thinking of renaming my blog - ‘Girl Stuff as the Newspapers Died’. I am just a broken record these days.

Anyway, another day of ups and downs in Lady Land. Good news first.

The final version of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill passed the House today, and is on its way for President Obama to sign. If you haven’t read the backstory of the Ledbetter case, it’s insane.

Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for nearly two decades. She discovered, near retirement, that she made far less than men in her same position and sued for discrimination.

In May 2007, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that Ledbetter’s case was invalid, since she had to sue within 180 days of the original violation (the first unequal paycheck). Of course, Ledbetter had no idea that she was being discriminated against for all those years, so that would have been impossible.

The new legislation extends the statute of limitations by making every paycheck a new act of discrimination, the 180 days extending each time a new check is issued. Huzzah!

But President Obama is going to need that feminine good will to forgive him for caving to Republicans on women’s health.

Obama and Pelosi have agreed to cut $200 million for low-income contraceptive and sexual health services in the stimulus package.

Aside from being a grand total of .024% of the stimulus (math thanks to Jezebel’s Megan), the money was going to fix a costly and time-consuming wavier that states have to get in order to use their own money to cover contraception.

Unfortunately, John Boehner (R-OH) has the soundbite of the fight:

“How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives how does that stimulate the economy?”

His argument against the contraception money has allowed a cavalcade of other conservative voices to fight the culture wars with this procedural money. For example, James Pethokoukis [via USA Today]:

This is wrong on so many levels, one of which is looking at children born to the ‘wrong people’ as economic burdens rather [than] gifts, the music makers, the dreamers of dreams. [Pelosi]sees them as a cost instead of blessed benefits. Wow.

Notice the anti-abortiony-speak going on here. That’s not at all what was being suggested, but the Right to Life crowd has done such a good job of moving the abortion debate onto the birth control debate, that the language is now interchangeable. Running this google search brings up plenty of links arguing that Obama’s stimulus plan will fund abortion.

Many are arguing that the ‘war on abortion’ has now turned into the ‘war on sex, by way of the war on contraceptives’. It’s hard not to see that in Boehner’s objection to the contraception money (one of several items in the bill not directly tied to stimulating the economy, but somehow generating the most outrage).

The point was to save the states money by eliminating a federal hoop (which, if you’re a states’-rights, low-tax Republican should seem like a good thing…), but if it’s about limiting access for women, Boehner’s all about federal oversight. Sex is for marriage and procreation.

Which brings me to my last (possibly NSFW) point. Georgia’ s Coweta County has banned, “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.”

Notes the Newnan Times-Herald:

The county’s old ordinance specifically exempted condoms from being considered as a stimulation device. The new ordinance makes no such distinction, and would appear to apply to items such as ribbed condoms and various lubricants marketed as having a “warming” or “tingling” sensation.

Hmm, to whom are those products generally directed? Ah yes. Jezebel’s Tracie comments:

…we’re fairly certain that the holy rollers and misogynists that are so concerned with regulating how women stimulate their genitals aren’t nearly as strident when it comes to the sale of Viagra and other drugs that treat erectile dysfunction.

[I assume that, like me, Tracie tried to check on that for sure and got stymied by the unholy number of Viagra links that were not about Georgia's laws regarding the product.]

Point is, if you ladies would just stop having the sex (especially the unwedlocked, pleasurable kind), everyone’s life would be much, much easier.

Screw that. I say check your paychecks instead.

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If the Senate removes Blago from office, it’s really going to put a damper on my afternoon crazy schedule.

Blagojevich’s latest presser consisted largely of cowboy metaphors, the governor arguing that the Senate impeachment trial was similar to an Old West hanging. (If there’s video up later, I’ll try to post it because you actually need to hear how long and how hard he flogged his simile.)

The main thrust of his prepared (?) remarks was that he was prevented from calling witnesses and from challenging the charges. Blagojevich demanded his ‘constitutional right’ to a fair trial.

If they can do this to a governor, they can do this to any citizen in Illinois.

Except, of course, ‘they’ can’t because his impeachment trial is a political procedure, not a criminal procedure.

Insanely, he took questions and the first one pressed him on exactly that point. Blago ducked and weaved, but didn’t manage to have an answer, except to demand again a fair trial.

He hit his stride late in the question period, claiming that he is being targeted by lawmakers who view him as an impediment to their cynical tax rise on the people of Illinois. He argued that if the people if the state allow him to go down like this, it will have a chilling effect on future governors actions vs the legislature.

Rod is the only thing standing between us and our other elected officials (and their 66% tax hike).

Um.

Oh yeah, he also called upon Illinois newspapers to help his cause for a ‘fair’ trial. He urged the Chicago Tribune, in particular, to lead the charge, citing the Tribune’s Supreme Court case against ‘Minnesota mobsters’ and other crooks.

This man’s irony gauge needs a lot of adjusting.

Speaking of the Tribune, they have some good quotes I didn’t catch all of:

Ending his 43-minute interview, Blagojevich likened the current drama surrounding him “to a 21st Century Frank Capra movie… how the good guy was up against the establishment… But he stood firm for the people. That’s what this is about.”

Obviously.

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I’ve been waiting to blog today because I was hoping that President Obama (not tired of saying/typing that yet!) would use the 36th anniversary of Roe v Wade to reverse the ‘global gag rule’.

Also known as the Mexico City Policy, the rule was enacted under Reagan, reversed by Clinton and then reinstated by Bush II on this very day in 2001. Here’s the gist (PP also has a video on the site):

Under this Reagan-era prohibition, no U.S. family planning assistance funding can be given to organizations that provide abortion services, offer counseling and referral for abortion care, or advocate legal abortion access in their own countries — even if they do so with their own funds.

Obama has promised to re-reverse the rule, and many were hoping he’d take this anniversary to reaffirm America’s commitment to women’s health and his administration’s commitment to reproductive choice.

I mean the Gitmo thing was good, too, but I like my symbols big and brash.

One person who apparently got the memo about big and brash is the idiot that drove his SUV into a Twin Cities Planned Parenthood this morning. Pro- and anti-choicers were united in their agreement that this disturbed individual should not pass go on his way to jail.

In related news, an anti-choice nurse is being sued for ‘accidentally’ removing a patient’s IUD. Said the nurse (according to the plaintiff):

Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it’s not true, they accidentally come out when I tug.

Um. Yeah, I’m thinking new career path for you…

But big thumbs ups to the legions of reproductive health workers and educators out there. Way to fight the good fight, ladies and gents.

Finally, some at DHHS seem to think that Bush’s ‘conscience clause’ HHS rules - that I’ve blogged about ad nauseam - might fall under the Obama’s executive order halting all Bush’s midnight rules.

Oh all right, maybe that new president isn’t so bad after all.

Update: Obama released a statement recognizing and supporting Roe v Wade.

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It’s a testament to how nerdy I am that this just completely made my day:

At 9:46 a.m., another reporter walked into the press office.

“Good morning,” [Deputy Press Secretary Bill] Burton said.

“I came to introduce myself,” the woman said. “I’m Helen Thomas.”

Other notes from President Obama’s first day are here.

Twenty four hours….. now.

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The Bush presidency ends in eleven hours.

That is all.

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So, I wasn’t going to watch this, but I figured what the hell. It is too freaking cold to go anywhere or to live.

Wow, he’s citing Afghanistan as a success story. Oh, and followed by Iraq, so great!

Bush acknowledged that there is ‘legitimate debate’ about some of the decisions he’s made, but ‘there can be little debate about the results.’ Um, I disagree with both that assessment and nearly everything he’s done.

He just can’t stop the smirk. I think it’s his nervous tic. (But, oh the rage it inspires.)

He also think he’s ‘expand[ed] opportunity and hope here at home.’ It appears he means NCLB and Medicare .

‘Vulnerable human life is better protected’ and America’s air and water are cleaner. I know he genuinely believes that first one, but it takes some serious gumption to look straight in the camera and say his environmental policy has been beneficial to the environment in any way.

But, oooh, oooh! This is the last time we’re going to see him as our president!

I remember thinking in 2004 that we wouldn’t get through these four years, but somehow we did. Not unscathed, but there are only 4.5 more days of this nonsense. And I get to spend the last two of them on vaycay.

I’m just glad he didn’t preempt The Office or 30 Rock. When I saw he was speaking at 8 I was incensed, but the existence of central time means he didn’t ruin absolutely everything he touches.

I mean, I’ll probably just watch them on Hulu anyway, but it’s the thought that counts.

And this is what I chose to blog about today. I dedicate it to the happy thought of Citizen Bush.

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I don’t read the Huffington Post very often. Despite their sometimes informative content, they often resort to tacky, lefty-Drudge headlines.

Ironically, I had clicked over to HuffPo for an article on why the online mag can’t replace the NYT.

(Oh, and speaking of which, the NYT took umbrage with the Atlantic article I quoted yesterday. Perhaps rumors of her death have been greatly exaggerated - or NYT’s communications dept has a vested interest in not appearing vulnerable. Updated: Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan takes a crack at the latter point.)

Anyway, the Huffington Post would like you to know that Africans are backwards, barbarous freaks:

The actual story explains that Obama’s grandmother wanted to bring a spear and shield amongst other gifts for her grandson on the occasion of his inauguration. It’s unclear from the article if she’ll check it, but it seems likely that she fears it being damaged during the flight and wanted to carry it on.

“But I have been told that due to security reasons I will not be allowed to board a plane with it,” she explained.

Hopefully, she and the airline can work out a compromise. (God, I’d love to see what today’s TSA would do with my grandmother; she packed everything… She also used to pack up all the bread rolls from the restaurant table into her purse, but that’s a separate issue.)

Needless to say, I did not click through to ‘Read HuffPost’s Inauguration BigNews Page’.

I made an angry noise and took a screen capture.

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Today’s Tribune interview with Senate hopeful Roland Burris sketches out some of the candidate’s bold and nuanced policy positions:

Burris maintained it was unfair to seek substantive answers from him about his goals because he hadn’t taken the oath of office—even though he was interested in the Senate appointment since last summer.

“I want to get my Senate legs under me and make sure I get down all the rules and regulations,” Burris said in the interview…”In the meantime, I will begin to assess the various national issues that are out there in general and the Illinois issues in particular.”

To be fair, the Tribune’s editorial stance in the segment I just clipped seems fairly skeptical of Burris, so perhaps there were more thoughtful-sounding quotes in the interview.

But the fact that he let those words come out of his mouth is telling.

Politicians run for office - at least in theory - because they want to effect some kind of change. Accepting an appointment to an office without clear goals and policy positions is the height of  arrogance.

What is really galling, however, is how happy Burris is to express this sentiment to the media and, by extension, the people of Illinois. It’s an attitude that says, “Get stuffed; I’m going to the Senate.” This also pretty much sums up his appointment, and presumably his tenure in office.

At this point, we just need to seat or not seat this turkey. It would be nice if by Inauguration we could focus on the… horrible everything, rather than the absurdly inflated egos of a couple lame politicians that have proved ineffectual, at best. Let’s leave the limelight for those who actually have substantive contributions to make.

There comes a point in every story about Illinois’ corrupt politics where the citizens just give up fighting and try to make the latest electoral assault as brief and painless as possible.

I don’t know if laying back and thinking of 2010 is the most proactive answer, but it might present the least chance of permanent damage.

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