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From CNN:

(CNN) -- Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a longtime fixture on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending, has died following complications from gallbladder surgery, according to his office. He was 77.

The veteran Democratic congressman recently underwent scheduled laparoscopic surgery to remove his gallbladder.

Murtha was hospitalized in December and had to postpone a hearing with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the administration's strategy in Afghanistan. The congressman returned to work after a few days in the hospital and helped oversee final passage of the 2010 defense appropriations bill.

Murtha represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the House since 1974, making him the chamber's eighth most senior member. According to his biography on the House Web site, Murtha was the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.

He was considered one of "the kings of pork" on Capitol Hill by taxpayer watchdog groups for requesting tens of millions of dollars in earmarks.

On his House Web site, Murtha strongly defended earmarks, saying, "I believe that elected representatives of the people understand their constituents and districts best." Supporters said his efforts have helped bring thousands of jobs to western Pennsylvania.

Other controversies dogged Murtha's career. Critics alleged he steered Pentagon contracts to businesses that hired his brother as a lobbyist, but Murtha insisted his brother was treated like everyone else.

The Fox anchors were restrained this morning in announcing the news. The right wingers have had Murtha in their sights for a long time. So you can count on the "opinion" crew to be licking its chops over the prospects of a Republican taking Murtha's seat this fall. Start your stopwatches.

(UPDATE: John Amato will be appearing on the Randi Rhodes Show at 1:35 pm PST to talk about this and other topics)

A C&Ler named mc sent in this very good e-mail about the causes of the financial meltdown we've just witnessed and the people who helped cause it.

I have almost 40 years of experience as a retail banker and financial services provider. I opened, managed and served as country head in Spain, Korea, Canada and the US. I would like to contribute comments and blogs.

It is not so difficult to find the people who should be held accountable for the financial meltdown of 2009. It seems, however, from 2001 until the present day nobody tries to find anyone responsible for anything.

There are 2 people in government that bear the bulk of the responsibility for our financial meltdown as well as the presidents of all banks that participated in the approval of mortgages with substandard credit criteria and the packaging and selling of such mortgages as asset backed securities. Additionally, all of these banks had, or should have had, senior risk asset management committees who were equally responsible. In each case they understood the risks and didn’t care as long they increased compensation for themselves and their company

As for the politicians, 2 of them bear the primary responsibility of these bankrupting financial policies. We need look no further than John McCain’s financial advisor Phil Gramm. Gramm, on Dec. 15, 2000, snuck into a congressional bill an act which prevents the government from regulating investment banks’ credit swaps. Gramm is the one who called Americans whiners and told us that the crisis was in our heads. McCain considered him for the position of Secretary of the Treasury.

Equally responsible for our economic crises was the SEC chairman (Christopher Cox), who changed a key regulation in 2004. Under pressure from those who wanted to please their campaign contributing Wall Street buddies the SEC approved a measure that let investment banks lend out 30 times the amount of capital they had backing up their loans. Before 2004 they could only lend out 12 times the amount of capital.

A solution to the banking meltdown that would prevent it from happening again would be:

1) Reinstate the regulation of CDSs and CDOs by the SEC (assumes increasing head count & improving the quality of staff).
2) Reinstate the 12 to 1 leverage ratio.
3) Require increased capital by product where the riskier assets require more capital reserves
4) Create a regulation that requires each sale of packaged assets by a bank or investment broker to provide some percentage of recourse to the purchaser.
5) Make the board of directors have fiduciary responsibly to stock holders and face fines and civil charges

There are others that share a lot of the blame too, like Bernanke, and no doubt he could name them too. But this is right on: The conservative mania for deregulation -- they like to call it "small government" -- is the root cause of our economic meltdown.

And Sarah and the Tea Partiers are still trying to sell us on the idea that more of the same is what we need. Because, you know, a nice PCB cocktail topped off with a cigar is just what you need to cure cancer.

When a conservative does something, it's OK, but not the same thing happens to a Democratic politician. It really doesn't matter what it is. Right now we're talking about rights for bombers, but it could be anything at all.

Liasson: ...don't forget Richard Reid, the shoe bomber was also mirandized and I don't remember a hue or a cry about that either. This is I think really unfortunate all around if you think that politics should stop at the water's edge, it should also stop at national security matters and alleged terrorists attacks.

Liasson reminds the Fox Crew that the shoe bomber was Mirandized the same way as the underwear bomber. Democrats on the Hill didn't immediately attack Bush after this, but let the process work. That's not part of the landscape now. Conservatives attack every second of every day, even when it compromises our national security. Why do they hate America so?

And apart from asking for a lap dance, why is Chris Wallace taking a political position on whether the underwear bomber is talking or not? I thought Fox's "news shows" didn't indulge in opinions ...

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Peggy Noonan thinks that President Obama just discovered bipartisanship now that his poll numbers are going down. Obviously she hasn't paid an ounce of attention to how he's actually governed for the last year. And when confronted with the rank partisanship from the Republicans and even the Senate's newest member, Scott Brown, who said the stimulus bill hasn't created a single job, Noonan dismisses it as just rhetoric he used to get elected. And George Will blames the President for having "an aggressive agenda" for the Republicans' bad behavior.

TAPPER: George, the administration and the president has said specifically that he was hoping for some bipartisanship support for some of the small-business tax cuts and credits he's pushing. There's an elimination of a capital gains tax for investments in small businesses, a tax credit for hiring, hoping for Republican support. I have yet to hear one Republican voice, one level of support for any of that.

If there's not bipartisan support for tax cuts, is there support -- is there possibility for any support for anything bipartisan?

WILL: Well, I'll volunteer. I subscribe to Milton Friedman's view that any tax cut of any shape at any time for any reason is to be supported. So I think probably they'll get some support on this.

But he has a very aggressive agenda from which he has retreated not one bit. I think you'd agree with that. And so when he extends his hand, he says, "I ask only one thing of Republicans, and that is that you quit being Republicans," and they respectfully decline.

If you have an aggressive agenda, you're going to have to push it aggressively in a partisan manner.

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If anyone now believes that the Tea Party movement is some third party movement based on frustration with our two-party political system, and that it will send candidates to oppose even the Republican Party, is a fool.

Sarah Palin made that plain in the Q&A after her Tea Party Convention speech:

Palin: The Republican Party would be really smart to start trying to absorb as much of the Tea Party movement as possible.

Without Fox News, the teabagger "revolution" would have been a minor blip on the conservative Richter scale, but because Roger Ailes saw a golden opportunity to lash out at a newly elected and highly likable black president in a hateful fashion he jumped in--feet first.

Knowing that the media are too lazy to properly put them in context, and being able to hide behind them to cover his ass, Ailes put his weight behind them. As disappointed as liberals and progressives are in the Obama administration, Fox News ginned up the Tea Party protesters and gave them a huge media platform to help wield the blade that issued a tiny cut at a time. Knowing the economy would not bounce back, it's not a surprise that Americans would not be happy with the Democratic party, but the level of vitriol and hatred helped to it initially began with a blog post from a republican voter who knew conservatives were in trouble of being a bad memory for a while.

The Bill Kristols of the right have always longed for a right-wing populist movement that could make headway in America, but they also have believed they could firmly control them. That's why Dick Armey was dispatched with boatloads of cash, along with other right-wing billionaires, to pump in the necessary cash to keep it percolating.

A.C. Kleinheider opines:

Beginning Of The End: Sarah Palin Hijacks The Tea Party Movement

The tea party movement is dead. The one I was familiar with anyway. Judson Phillips held it down and Sarah Palin drove a stake right through its heart live last night on C-Span in front of an unsuspecting audience.

Sarah Palin didn’t give a tea party speech last night. She gave a partisan Republican address. It was a purely political speech designed to position her for a presidential run in 2012 or 2016. Period. She wasn’t there to celebrate the organic nature of a movement she had nothing to do with creating. She was there to co-opt the name and claim the brand as hers. And she did.

The movement, that came to be officially recognized almost a year ago but whose roots go back further than that, has been snuffed out and replaced in the public mind. The movement that began as a people’s movement of angry independent, libertarians and conservatives will now be thought as the movement of people like Palin, Dick Armey, Judson Phillips, Mark Skoda, etc. Essentially, a wholly owned subsidiary of the “Official Conservative Movement” and the Republican Party.

Sarah Palin is no independent voice, but a GOP politician. The Republicans need to co-opt the movement completely in order to capitalize on them, because really most of the movement is based on the ideology of arch-conservatives who will never vote for anything that is progressive. Indeed, a lot of what drives them is the hatred of all things progressive. See Glenn Beck as only the most recent and glaring example of this.

Carl Cameron described the teabaggers on Fox yesterday as people who support the Constitution and conservative values. Yep, that's about right.

Bloggers on the left can try to align themselves with the Tea Partiers, but it will only happen on issues that will not otherwise endanger votes being taken away from conservatives. You won't see Grover Norquist do anything that would jeopardize his long-term strategy of "defunding the left" and turning every voter against progressive values. And he's more than happy to use progressives as props to achieve that. It's really that simple.

I suppose the president is doing this as political cover for the eventual use of reconciliation. But I suspect he really thinks he's going to change the way things work in Congress -- either he's crazy, or a genius. Personally, I wish he'd give up trying to be the Great Mediator and just ram through his agenda - the same way George Bush did with much less public support:

President Obama moved to jump-start the stalled health-care debate Sunday, inviting Republicans in Congress to participate in a bipartisan, half-day televised summit on the subject this month.

The president made the offer in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric hours before the network televised the Super Bowl.

Obama challenged Republicans, who have been largely unified in opposing his proposals, to bring their best ideas for how to cover more Americans and fix the health insurance system to the public discussion.

"I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues," Obama said. "What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table. . . . I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."

The invitation to meet together on Feb. 25 -- and to do so live in front of the American public -- represents an effort by Obama to hit the reset button on the top domestic priority of his first year in office. It also reflects a recognition that he must have at least some Republican support if he hopes to see health-care reform pass.

[...] GOP leaders on Sunday said they welcomed the outreach but called it evidence that Obama knows he must start over if he wants to earn their support going forward.

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Arianna Huffington debated Hugh Hewitt over Beck's lunatic rantings when he and Roger Ailes lied about his usage of the word "slaughtered" with Howard Kurtz. We exposed that lie here already, but then we were treated to Hewitt's buffoonery about Andy Stern and the same old conservative line being used to defend psycho word talk by conservatives and that was entertaining by itself if you can stand it.

Hewie: If you talk for thirty hours a week, you're going to use the word slaughter and you're going to use it sometimes without knowing it and I don't think we outta focus on it.

No need to respond to that idiocy. But he does try to change the subject and ask why FOX is so popular. Because they have catered to conservatives their entire existence.

Kurtz: let me come back to this question of whether you apply the same standards. Rahm Emanuel, the WH chief of staff said at a private meeting some months ago and used the word "retarded," talking about a democratic idea..."blanking retarded"...he's nbow apologized. You were asked on MSNBC, you said this is political correctness, let's not talk about it. Why not apply the same standards to Rahm?

C&L has commented on the Rahm situation and although what he said was disgusting, it still was behind closed doors and not for public consumption.

What Beck does is totally different and Howard knows this.

In trying to find a comparable situation (which happens all the time by the media,) Kurtz used Rahm's behind closed doors slur. Glenn Beck said it to millions of people and continues to say crazed things on a daily basis to millions of people publicly. Rahm is not a public speaker or a radio or TV talk show host. Do we really have to discuss Glenn Beck or Limbaugh or O'Reilly in this silly way? Please stop it.

Arianna did a great job on the debate, but it needs to be expanded to the entire FOX News network. Beck is but one cog in their wheel. Yes, it's a very twisted wheel, but the debate should center around Roger Ailes and their entire network in the end.

From Democracy Now -- Robert McChesney and John Nichols on “The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again”:

University of Illinois Professor Robert McChesney and The Nation correspondent John Nichols, two leading advocates of the media reform movement, join us to talk about their new book, The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again. McChesney and Nichols argue that journalism should be seen as a public good and that the government should help save American journalism by granting more subsidies to newspapers and media outlets.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, 2009 was one of the bleakest years in memory for the news industry. One count found that 142 daily and weekly newspapers closed down, nearly triple the number in 2008.

Colorado’s oldest newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, shut its doors last February. The nation’s oldest gay and lesbian newspaper, the Washington Blade, abruptly closed in November. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer scaled down to a web-only publication. The Christian Science Monitor became a weekly publication.

Many other news organizations slashed the size of their newsrooms. An estimated 90,000 workers lost their jobs last year in the newspaper, magazine and book publishing industry.

Our next guests argue that journalism should be seen as a public good, that the government should help save American journalism by granting more subsidies to newspapers and media outlets. Robert McChesney and John Nichols make their case in a book titled The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again. They argue that government subsides for journalism have a long history in the United States dating back to the founding of the country, when newspaper and journal publishers received large printing and postal subsidies.

AMY GOODMAN: Robert McChesney and John Nichols write, quote, “Like all public goods, we need the resources to get it produced. This is the role of the state and public policy. It will require a subsidy and should be regarded as similar to the education system or the military in that regard.”

Well, Bob McChesney and John Nichols join us here in New York. Robert McChesney is a professor at the University of Illinois. John Nichols is the Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine. Together they helped found the media organization Free Press. Their new book is called The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again. Read on...

The Left Coaster: The Real Tea Partiers, and some perspective

ArmsControlWonk:: N. Korea: Deadly in a Snowball Fight

Open Left: Voter intimidation tactics still thrive in America

The Baseline Scenario: Is Tim Geithner paying attention to the global economy? (h/t Politics in the Zeros)

Citizen Energy: Who has Obama been talking to?

HOLY CRAP: Archbishop chides Blair...What Would Jesus Eat?...Inquiring minds...Breakfast with the Family...The Illuminati...Defending our Prophets against Whaleofascism...The evil of banality...Christians oppose bill aimed at child prostitution...Workaholic Pope... H-E-double hockey sticks...Atheists naughty and nice...Sodomy, American Style...

Sunday Funnies with a classic from the King of Comedy:

Open thread below

From his eponymous album, Donavon Frankenreiter.

I realize that as a Californian, I have little room for complaint, especially as the East Coast digs out from three to four feet of snow (our own Susie Madrak shared pictures of her car buried). But I haven't seen the sun in a month now and I'm craving a little sunny seaside vacation, if only in my mind.

So join me, and post music that put you into that holiday groove.

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We have an interesting dilemma here in Pennsylvania: Arlen is cruising through the Democratic senatorial primary, but his poll numbers are much closer against Club For Growth soldier Pat Toomey in the general election. (Then again, Sestak isn't polling much better against Toomey, either):

LANCASTER - When U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter switched from a Republican to a Democrat last year, some Democratic loyalists in Pennsylvania said hell would freeze over before they'd embrace an old foe they had been battling in statewide elections for 30 years.

Yesterday, amid the deep freeze and howling winds of the worst winter storm in years, the Democratic State Committee met in a snowbound hotel in Amish country to consider endorsements in this year's races for the U.S. Senate, governor, and lieutenant governor.

Despite the reservations of some party members, who challenged him for what they considered pro-Republican sins of the past, Specter, of Philadelphia, beat U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, of Delaware County, gaining the two-thirds majority required for endorsement by the party rules.

With chants of "Arlen! Arlen! Arlen!" from some of his supporters, Specter, who will turn 80 on Friday, practically bounded to a microphone in front of several hundred Democrats at the Lancaster Host Resort.

"I have been involved in many, many elections, but never one quite as thrilling as this," he said. "It almost feels like a presidential nominating convention."

I'll note here that Mike Stark has some misgivings about Specter's age and cognition. (Mike calls it dementia; I think it might be chemo brain.)

I have to say, though, that my own experiences with Specter have been different; he's been very sharp when I've spoken with him. Even on his worst day, no one's ever accused Arlen Specter of being dumb.

This is pretty tricky ground to navigate (Robert Byrd, anyone?). From what I hear, it was an open secret that Ted Kennedy was unable to function most of the time since his brain tumor was diagnosed, and that his wife and staff were running the show.

Should we have made him resign? Should we make Byrd resign? We need every vote we can get.

And I'm frustrated, trying to explain to out-of-state progressives why Arlen might not be so bad. (Remember, the Republicans thought he was too liberal.) As a native Philadelphian, I've been watching Arlen for decades. He can be a real weasel, but once he's bought, he tends to stay bought.

I feel the way I did watching A-Rod stick it to the Phillies in the World Series: "That smug bastard!" But would I be angry if the Phillies somehow managed to bring him on board? Hell, no.

And now that he's on our team, I can't help but see Arlen as an legitimate asset. He's really good at what he does. And at this point, it looks like he's going to be our candidate.

SNL mocks FOX News again which is always a good thing. This time they highlight the coverage of the possible repealing of DADT.

I love the "hot blonde chick" and Karl Rove characters. Teh odious Oliver North and Palin stalker, Greta are always welcome characters for a parody.

Representatives Paul Ryan (R-Wis) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduce "A Roadmap to America's Future" which advocates the privatization of Social Security.

Funny thing about Republicans. They seem determined to NEVER learn lessons from the past. Which can be the only reason why Rep. Paul Ryan has reintroduced legislation to eliminate Medicare and privatize Social Security--a GOP pet project that spent all the political capital that Bush felt he earned with his re-election. His "Social Security-palooza" tour, designed to drum up populist support, actually had the opposite affect and set the administration back on its heels and backing off--a rare defeat for the destructive neo-con plans of the Bushies.

Say it with me now: THIRD RAIL. Seriously, you nimrods, you don't go after the well-being of Grandma and Grandpa without some serious negative political ramifications, no matter what the lunatic fringe teabagging set says.

Not content to let Ryan & Co. merely self-immolate on this, Representatives John Larson (D-CT) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) have introduced a resolution clearly stating their opposition to this "roadmap" guaranteed to get Americans lost:

Today, Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and more than 20 original co-sponsors introduced a resolution in opposition to the Republican proposal to privatize Social Security. Rep. John Larson:

Republicans are dusting off their old playbook and re-hashing old ideas like the privatization of Social Security that the American people have already rejected. Their ideas would end the program as we know it and put the retirement security of millions of America’s seniors and workers at risk.

Rep. Linda Sánchez:

When the stock market crashed in 2008, it was apparent that the Republican’s push to privatize Social Security was a bad idea. Americans have not forgotten the dangers of tying their retirement security to the whims of Wall Street. It was a bad idea then, and it is a bad idea now. This resolution supports Americans who contribute all their working life to a retirement and want income security in their golden years.

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Sarah Palin apparently thinks we need some "divine intervention" in our politics, as if we haven't been Jesus'd enough already by these clowns who don't believe in the separation of church and state. Not surprising since these great Tea Party "patriots" think the only "real Americans" are Christians.

I wish Palin’s concern for the media criticizing those who inject religion into our politics was true. Sadly it is just the opposite as we’ve seen with the likes of the Tony Perkins and other hate mongers being allowed to weigh in on DADT and the abortion debate. And someone tell me how easy it is for anyone who is an atheist to get elected? Or who’s not a Christian for that matter? I don’t know what world Palin is living in, but it doesn’t resemble the one I’ve been watching when it comes to those expressing their faith having any problems in the media or with getting elected.

That of course will never stop the likes of Palin from playing the religious victim card.

Phillips: It goes without saying the end game for the Tea Party movement is a conservative House and a conservative Senate, or as I had a chance to tell some people earlier today, next year at this time we need to see the title former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former Senator Harry Reid.

When we are successful and we have a conservative House and a conservative Senate, as soon as that happens, what do you think are the top three things that have got to be done?

Palin: We’ve got to reign in the spending obviously and not, you know, raising extremely high budgets and then say okay we’re going to freeze a couple of programs here or there. That doesn’t do us any good really. We’ve got to start reigning in the spending. We have got to jump start these energy projects that again we’ve heard so much about because it’s ridiculous that we have the sitting warehouse under god’s green earth here in the United States of America. Rich resources, oil and gas and our coal and all these conventional sources of recourses we have got to actually walk that walk to allow them to come to development.

And then I think kind of tougher to, kind of tougher to put our arms around but, allowing America’s spirit to rise again by not being afraid, not being afraid to kind of go back to some of our roots as a god fearing nation where we’re not afraid to say, especially in times of potential trouble in the future here, we’re not afraid to say, you know, we don’t have all the answers as fallible men and women so it would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country, so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again.

To have people involved in government who aren’t afraid to go that route, not so afraid of the political correctness that, you know, they have to be afraid of what the media would say about them if they were to proclaim their reliance on our creator.

Phillips: Amen.