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Sarah Palin Resigns: Is She Running For President or Fleeing Scandal?
Posted by Tana Ganeva, AlterNet on July 3, 2009 at 3:25 PM.

Sarah Palin has announced that she is resigning as Governor of Alaska. At a news conference from her house this morning, the Alaska Governor said that she will give up her post in the next few weeks.

Many observers expected Palin to announce that she was not seeking re-election -- a prediction fueled by recent speculation that the Governor was preparing for 2012 Presidential bid.

But Palin's shocking announcement seems to belie plans for a Presidential run. As Josh Marshall points out at TPM, "Generally, when you run for election to a high office it's understood that you'll stick around to do the job."

The New York Times seems to think that Palin's resignation means she is gearing up to run for President. Mitchell L. Blumenthal writes:

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska announced Thursday that she would step down by the end of the month and not seek a second term as governor, allowing her to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

But many Presidential hopefuls finish up their time in office. And Palin's statement doesn't seem to hint at Presidential ambitions. In fact, the Alaska Governor vaguely stated that she would do more good "outside government", and issued some Nixonian grumblings about the press, according to a reporter at the scene to whom Palin allegedly said: "You are naive if you don't see a full-court press on the national level, picking apart a good point guard."

(Palin did, however, offer some suspiciously campaigny-sounding rhetoric:  "I'm not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual.")

It has also been noted that Palin faces ongoing ethics inquiries. It is estimated that the state of Alaska has spent nearly $300 thousand investigating ethics complaints against the Governor.

(On a hilarious note, if it turns out Palin is fleeing office in the face of something more egregious or scandalous, we would be averaging the loss of one GOP Presidential hopeful per week)

In a press release issued by her office, Palin asserted her commitment to " .. fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

Video and transcript after the jump:

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Jon Stewart: Mark Sanford, Shut the F**ck Up
Posted by Staff, AlterNet on July 3, 2009 at 3:01 PM.

Jon Stewart points out that God killed Michael Jackson to let Sanford off the hook. But Sanford can't stop treating the press and public like his private confessional.

Jon Stewart: Mark Sanford, Shut the F**ck Up
Posted by Staff, AlterNet on July 3, 2009 at 3:01 PM.

Jon Stewart points out that God killed Michael Jackson to let Sanford off the hook. But Sanford can't stop treating the press and public like his private confessional.

Michelle Malkin Freaks Out Because the Government Might Help Poor People a Tiny Bit
Posted by D. Aristophanes, Sadly, No! on July 3, 2009 at 2:01 PM.

Michelle Malkin ominously warns us to ‘[b]eware the grubby paws‘ of Barney Frank. It seems that the ‘powerful Massachusetts Democrat last week quietly introduced legislation that aims to use $1 billion in dividends paid by the recipients of government aid to provide rental housing opportunities for low-income and homeless families.’

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Harry Reid's "Gentle Pursuasion" Is Not Enough
Posted by Steve Benen on July 3, 2009 at 12:22 PM.

QUOTE OF THE DAY.... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada.

Reid says he expects the tactic of gentle persuasion to work best, given the size of his Senate Democratic flock and the political divergences within it. "I don't dictate how people vote," he said in an interview this month. "If it's an important vote, I try to tell them how important it is to the Senate, the country, the president ... But I'm not very good at twisting arms. I try to be more verbal and non-threatening. So there are going to be -- I'm sure -- a number of opportunities for people who have different opinions not to vote the way that I think they should. But that's the way it is. I hold no grudges."

I don't doubt Reid is widely liked and admired within the caucus. But "gentle persuasion" is rarely a recipe for party discipline.

There have been plenty of Senate Majority Leaders in history who members feared and wouldn't dare cross. Reid isn't one of them.

Nazi Groups Look for New Recruits at Tea Parties
Posted by BarbinMD , Daily Kos on July 3, 2009 at 11:42 AM.

Gee, what a surprise, via Americablog:

White supremacists and neo-Nazi hate groups plan to take advantage of the anti-tax “Tea Parties” set to occur in more than 1,000 cities and localities over the July 4 holiday weekend to disseminate racist fliers and other materials and attempt to recruit others to their cause, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

ADL’s Center on Extremism, which monitors extremist groups and provides information to law enforcement and the public, has released information on its Web site describing the attempt by white supremacists to co-opt the anti-tax message of the events as a means to spread racism and anti-Semitism.

On Stormfront, the most popular white supremacist Internet forum, members have discussed becoming local organizers of the “Tea Parties” and finding ways to involve themselves in the events. Many racists have voiced their intent to attend these rallies for the purpose of cultivating an “organized grassroots White mass movement,” with some suggesting that they would do so without openly identifying themselves as racists.

Those patriotic teabaggers must be so proud.

Cheney Orchestrated Public Response to Plame Leak
Posted by Melissa McEwan, Shakesville on July 3, 2009 at 10:11 AM.

Cheney orchestrated public response to Plame leak:

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.

 ...A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department.

And here's more SHOCKING news: Former Bush administration officials assert that the contents must remain secret, and—surprise!—the Obama administration agrees! Hopey changey!

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Hamstringing Environmental Protection for Coal
Posted by Natasha Chart, Open Left on July 3, 2009 at 8:30 AM.

This may be one of the most important things anyone's said yet about the Waxman-Markey climate bill, or ACES. Ken Ward Jr. writing at The Charleston Gazette shares a quote from the communications director of the United Mine Workers of America, Phil Smith:

As it stands now, the amount of money dedicated to coal in this bill is remarkable, and the future of coal will be intact.

There's also this, highlighted by David Sassoon at Solve Climate, from Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), a "lead negotiator for coal state Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee":

I've been working extensively to fashion a controlled program that Congress can adopt which will preserve coal jobs, create the opportunity for increasing coal production and keep electricity rates in regions like Southwest Virginia affordable. The compromise that I have reached with Chairman Waxman achieves those goals.

It doesn't seem unreasonable, as many have pointed out, that industry's weeping and wailing about this bill in public hides the fact that they know it's the best deal they're going to get.

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Palin, Perry and Jindal Are Refusing to Talk to Biden About the Stimulus
Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress on July 3, 2009 at 6:23 AM.

In a new article, Time’s Michael Scherer describes how Vice President Biden has been aggressively reaching out to mayors on the their use of stimulus money. “My rear end is on the line just like yours,” said Biden on a recent conference call with five mayors and county executives. “I’m the guy in charge of this deal. So if this doesn’t work, it’s me.” In a follow-up blog post, Scherer reveals that Biden has talked to “dozens of mayors and 47 of the 50 state governors about the Recovery Act”:

One interesting fact that didn’t make it into the story. Since March, Biden has talked, usually in conference calls, to dozens of mayors and 47 of the 50 state governors about the Recovery Act. The three governors who have not yet been on the line, though they have been invited: Alaska’s Sarah Palin, Texas’ Rick Perry and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal. You can draw your own conclusions.

Don't Worry, Wealthy Wall Street Bankers Are Doing All Right
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on July 3, 2009 at 5:00 AM.

The loss of 467,000 jobs last month and the loss of practically every single job created this decade aside, at least some employees are back in business.

Business is back on Wall Street. If the good times continue to roll, lofty pay packages may be set for a comeback as well.

Based on analysts' earnings forecasts for 2009, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is on track to pay out as much as $20 billion this year, or about $700,000 per employee. That would be nearly double the firm's $363,000 average last year, and slightly higher than the $661,000 for the average Goldman employee in fiscal 2007, according to analyst estimates reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

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John Bolton Won't Shut Up About Bombing Iran
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on July 2, 2009 at 4:31 PM.

A PATTERN EMERGES.... Time's Joe Klein notices that a certain former U.N. ambassador has a preoccupation with bombing a certain Middle Eastern country, and manages to keep finding major newspapers to publish his thoughts on the subject.

In the Washington Post today, screw-loose wingnut extraordinaire John Bolton has a column in which he advocates an Israeli strike against Iran. This would be shocking, except that...

On June 26, Bolton had an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in which he advocated bombing Iran. And, well, er...

On June 12, he had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which he advocated bombing Iran.

And that's just three op-eds in three weeks. We could go back a little further and find Bolton -- in op-eds, on Fox News -- advocating military attacks on Iran for years.

Indeed, as Adam Serwer noted, given Bolton's incessant rhetoric on the subject, "it's hard to take seriously his proposal that now is actually the opportune moment to bomb Iran."

I'd just add that it's interesting to consider the competing conservative messages on Iran. For the better part of June, the line was that the United States needed to do more to support Iranians. What we really needed to do, neocons said, was speak up and let the Iranian people know we're on their side. And yet, here's Bolton, arguing again that the one thing that's really needed is a bombing campaign on Iran.

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Celebrate Immigration and Diversity This Independence Day
Posted by Staff, Immigration Impact on July 2, 2009 at 2:46 PM.

In Order to Form a More Perfect Union

America is now--and has always been--nation of immigrants. What better time, then, to turn our attention this Independence Day to the demographic diversity that has long been a principal strength of the U.S. economy and civil society? Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians play critical economic roles as workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. As a result, they will be crucial players in the nation's efforts to recover from the current recession and the success of America's economic future.

Major City Police Chiefs Just Say No To Immigration Enforcement

Tired of spending scant time and resources on immigration enforcement, major city police chiefs called on Congress, Wednesday, to move on comprehensive immigration reform.  Like most law enforcement officers across the country, chasing down undocumented immigrants proves to be too much of a strain when faced with real priorities like keeping violent criminals off the street.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Celebrate Immigration and Diversity This Independence Day
Posted by Staff, Immigration Impact on July 2, 2009 at 2:46 PM.

In Order to Form a More Perfect Union

America is now--and has always been--nation of immigrants. What better time, then, to turn our attention this Independence Day to the demographic diversity that has long been a principal strength of the U.S. economy and civil society? Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians play critical economic roles as workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. As a result, they will be crucial players in the nation's efforts to recover from the current recession and the success of America's economic future.

Major City Police Chiefs Just Say No To Immigration Enforcement

Tired of spending scant time and resources on immigration enforcement, major city police chiefs called on Congress, Wednesday, to move on comprehensive immigration reform.  Like most law enforcement officers across the country, chasing down undocumented immigrants proves to be too much of a strain when faced with real priorities like keeping violent criminals off the street.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Jeb Bush Tests Water for 2012 Presidential Bid?
Posted by Deeky , Shakesville on July 2, 2009 at 1:18 PM.

Jeb Bush (the less dignified of the two in the photo; wrap your head around that) may be testing the waters for a 2012 presidential bid.

Maude help us all.

Recent robocalls to Iowa asked potential voters which of the following they'd most likely vote for: Huckabee, Palin, Gingrich, Jindal, or Jeb Bush. As if two previous Bushes weren't enough already.

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Official Unemployment Hits 9.5% (Reality Even Worse)
Posted by Meteor Blades, Daily Kos on July 2, 2009 at 12:15 PM.

Unemployment rose to 9.5% in June, a 26-year high, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A total of 14.7 million Americans are now officially out of work, and payroll employment has fallen by 6.5 million since the downturn began in December 2007, 19 months ago. The BLS also reported this morning that yet another 467,000 non-farm payroll jobs were lost in June. That was more than 100,000 above what a consensus of economists had estimated. Job losses in May were revised to 322,000 from an earlier estimate of 345,000.

The official count – known as U3 and dutifully reported by most of the media – fails to show the true extent of the wreckage. Left out of most reporting is U6, the BLS  calculation that includes involuntarily underemployed people. That is, those who want a full-time job, but can only find part-time work. Also missing from U3 are discouraged jobless people who haven’t looked for work during the past four weeks. The U6 figure rose in June to 16.5%.

The average workweek fell another 0.1 hour to 33 hours, the lowest since 1964 when the BLS began keeping statistics for that factor.

Another set of interconnected gauges of economic misery released today was the number of new claims filed for unemployment benefits, the four-week average of new claims, and the number of continuing claims. There were 614,000 new claims, the four-week average of claims – which levels ups and downs – dropped to 615,250, and continuing claims fell 53,000 to 6.7 million. The continuing claims number, however, may be affected by the fact that a growing number of out-of-work Americans have exhausted their benefits and no longer show up in these statistics. A little less than 40% of workers are covered by unemployment insurance.

In late May, 74% of economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economists said the economy would begin expanding this quarter although they expected unemployment to continue rising into 2010 before beginning its recovery. One disturbing trend can be found in how long it took in the four previous recessions before the number of workers with jobs equaled the number employed at the beginning of those recessions. In 1974, the job recovery took 19 months; in 1981, 28 months; in 1991, 32 months; in 2001, 47 months.

Jack Healy of The New York Times reports:

"There are going to be massive, massive numbers of people who are out of work for long periods of time," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director for the National Employment Law Project. "It’s one of the most important aspects of where the economy is right now."

Although the number of people filing for unemployment insurance has leveled off recently, more workers are falling back on safety nets intended for the most troubled workers. More than 2.7 million people received emergency or extended unemployment benefits in the first week of June — the most recent period for which data was available — compared with 2 million at the beginning of the year.

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