43 Ideas-Per-Minute: Hacking Hypocrisy

Geekosystem: Facebook's Privacy Policy is longer than the US Constitution.

Sparkle Pony: Laura Bush jumps on annoying bandwagon.

A Kagan roundup from Citizen Crain, Field Negro, Echidne, and TBogg.

And finally, Bildungblog: Hey, at least no one can call Obama a quitter.

[Mike's away for a few days. Round up by Blue Gal; send tips to bluegalsblog AT gmail.]

Princess Sparkle Pony's Tea Party Roundup: Poll reveals they have a split personality. And their salt-of-the earth cheerleader is dedicated to luxury hotels, private jets, a team of consultants, and BIG FEES

sexgenderbody: Catholic church goes 'all in' on victim-blaming, denial and depravity

Booman Tribune: A history lesson for Sarah Palin

Calculated Risk: The SEC and other Banks

Wall St. Cheat Sheet: The Cost of Terror

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Monkey Muck (who is 4 years old!), Watergate Summer, Manifesto Joe's Texas Blues

I almost feel embarrassed for John McCain, but I really don't.

The Maverick is really a pony.

Mean old man McCain has a sad:

Democrats shouldn’t expect much cooperation from Republicans the rest of this year, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned Monday.

McCain and another Republican senator decried the effect health reform legislation has had on the Senate, a day after the House passed the upper chamber’s bill.

GOP senators emerged Monday to caution that the health debate had taken a toll on the institution, warning of little work between parties the rest of this year.

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” McCain said during an interview Monday on an Arizona radio affiliate. “They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

Oh no! Not obstructionism! They wouldn’t dare try that!

What is amazing is that a Senator is openly saying “Fuck the nation’s business, we’re a bunch of kids,” and no one in the media will point out how worthless and childish the Republicans are. Even worse, no one is even surprised.

Harry Reid responds.

“For someone who campaigned on ‘Country First’ and claims to take great pride in bipartisanship, it’s absolutely bizarre for Senator McCain to tell the American people he is going to take his ball and go home until the next election. He must be living in some parallel universe because the fact is, with very few exceptions, we’ve gotten very little cooperation from Senate Republicans in recent years.

“At a time when our economy is suffering and we’re fighting two wars, the American people need Senator McCain and his fellow Republicans to start working with us to confront the challenges facing our country—not reiterating their constant opposition to helping working families when they need it most.”

John McCain should just turn in his paycheck if he's not going to work, but then again, his wife can support him just fine. Maybe all the Republicans can forgo their salaries if they continue to obstruct every piece of legislation.

Digby has more:

I can't help but recall hearing a whole lot of patronizing advice from these same people a few years back when anyone breathed that President Bush might not have legitimately taken office since he lost the popular vote, his brother manipulated the system in Florida and he was was installed by a partisan supreme court decision. Back then it was all "get over it," and "I've got political capital and I'm gonna spend it!" Now, these same people are all screaming that it's a usurpation if the Democrats win the majority and then pass legislation that they don't like.

It's fairly clear that Republicans don't understand how democracy works. You campaign, people vote, you win elections, you get a majority, you pass legislation. They seem to think Democracy means that that elections are irrelevant, majorities are meaningless and that all legislation is contingent upon the permission of the Republican Party.

I'm sorry these people are so unhappy. I know how they feel. I used to hate it when the Republicans passed some disgusting initiative that went against everything I believe in. But I don't recall having a mental breakdown at the notion that they could do it even though I didn't want them to. The idea that they were obligated to do my bidding didn't actually cross my mind.

Elections have consequences, or so I was told by conservatives when Bush won in 2004.

That's Why: Basic middle class assumptions are full of holes.

Sparkle Pony: Could some one explain why two months of pills costs three thousand bucks?

Echidne of the Snakes: Where the female bloggers are.

Figleaf (NSFW): New acronym: IJNNWCDI. "It's just not news when conservatives do it."

Off the beaten path: When is evil cool?

Guest round up by Blue Gal; Mike returns tomorrow. Send tips to finnsagain AT aol DOT com

Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: Hairdressers and fetuses will destroy tea baggers. Internecine warfare has already erupted. But check out the invite I got yesterday!

Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog The wingnut defense of Monsanto

Enduring America: Afghanistan: Did the way forward come out of London Conference? (h/t swimgirl)

Margaret and Helen: The elephant in the room is a kangaroo

Angry Bear: The meaning of "Monty Python and the Meaning of Life"

2L4O: Too Liberal for Obama: My friend vastleft sent me this cool Tshirt...

Consortiumblog: Few Americans understand how important Haiti's contribution to U.S. history was, and this moron and this braying jackass prove it

The Washington Independent: First GOP Moneybomb and a union warning

The Big Picture: How Bankers Think

The Swash Zone: Timid liberals

Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: Book Shelf: GQ Scene Magazine, Fall 1967

Jack & Jill Politics: Teddy Pendergrass, RIP

DOWNLOADS: (808)

PLAYS: (1106)

Embed

Isn't that great news? He also told George Stephanopoulos on This Week there will be "growth in the spring." (Just like Chauncy Gardiner in "Being There.")

But it isn't true. The recession isn't over until jobs increase, and that's not really happening. Summers is saying we "only" lost 11,000 jobs last month, and that's not exactly true. The numbers were brought down by a number of factors, including the large numbers of people who have given up and stopped looking for work.

Nonetheless, everyone agrees Larry Summers is a Very Serious Person, so I will take his word for it and just sit here, waiting for my pony.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And Mr. Summers, let me begin with you, and let's start with just the overall economic situation right now, especially on jobs. We saw that drop in unemployment in November, but private economists predict that unemployment is likely to head back up. Mark Zandi sees it peaking at about 10.6 percent next year. Others say it could go up to 11 percent. Is that in line with your forecast?

SUMMERS: George, here is what I know. We were talking about depression, we were talking about the financial system collapsing. Today, everybody agrees that the recession is over, and the question is what the pace of the expansion is going to be. These things happen in stages. First, GDP goes up. That has happened. Then, hours that are worked by workers who already have jobs go up. That's starting to happen. Then employment goes up. We got very close to that this year, this month, with only 11,000 jobs lost. And then unemployment starts to come down. So these problems weren't made in a month or a year, and they are going to take a substantial time to solve. But what we can take satisfaction from is that we've walked back from the brink. And you know, forget what we say. Most professional forecasters are now looking for a return to job growth by spring.

Now, when job growth starts, more people are going to be looking for work, so it will take a little longer for the unemployment statistics to come down, but make no mistake, we were losing 700,000 a month when President Bush turned the economy over to President Obama. The number last month was 11,000.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me pin you down on that, though. You believe the economy is actually going to be creating jobs in the spring.

SUMMERS: That is the judgment of most professional forecasters. That's right, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So given that...

SUMMERS: If you look at the employment statistics, they will show employment growth. They were showing losing 700,000 a month. Last month, they showed losing 11,000 jobs. They will bounce from month to month, but I believe that, as do most professional forecasters, that by spring, employment growth will start to be turning positive.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So given that, we saw the president allowed some job creation ideas earlier this week. What is the upper limit on what he will sign into law in terms of new job creation measures early next year? $100 billion?

SUMMERS: The president is going to work with Congress to do what's necessary. George, it's a bit of a Washington thing to put this in terms of price tags. For example, the president is doing a whole set of things, working with other...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the American people want to...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's not a Washington thing.

SUMMERS: To promote our exports. That doesn't have a -- that does not have a direct cost. But the president has talked about doing things for infrastructure. It doesn't cost anything to encourage banks, as the president will be doing, to meet their responsibilities and expand the flow of credit to small business.

We're in a very different -- we are in a very special kind of economic situation, and frankly, jobs have to be the top priority, and every bill is going to be a jobs bill going forward. We hope we can find common ground. We emphasize support for small businesses, repairing the nation's infrastructure. These ought to be things that everybody can agree on.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, let me just pin you down, though, one more time on that. You did lay out a number of ideas that don't cost money, but extending unemployment costs money. Aid to states and local governments costs more money. Investing in infrastructure costs money. So what is the upper limit on what President Obama will sign?

SUMMERS: The president is going to do what's necessary to respond to this crisis. He's put a figure of $50 billion on the infrastructure support that he proposes. His proposals on unemployment insurance are primarily a continuation of the legislation that the Congress has already passed and that has been put in place. And he recognizes that when we take new steps, we have to do it in the context of a framework that is fiscally responsible. We can't just look in isolation at one measure. We've got to look at the $8 trillion in deficit over the next 10 years that the president inherited, and start making progress with respect to those deficits. That's what the president did in his budget. That's what the health care bill does with the most consequential set of health care reforms that have ever been put forward, and they are now on the brink of passage.

Larger image here.

If Republicans want it: fifty votes plus one gets you a big tax cut.

If Democrats want it: sixty votes isn't enough to provide health insurance to every American, plus you have to give Lieberman a pony.

More at Alan Grayson's website "Stop Senate Stalling".

Open Thread below.

Pashmina fight! From the dear departed "Smack The Pony" Channel 4 British sketch comedy show.

h/t Monkey Muck

Open thread below...

Lost in Tarnation: Unattended conference a huge success

at-Largely: Coup in Honduras...Vioent reaction might come from South America

alicublog: Build a better crackpot, and the world will beat a path to your door

Dissident Voice: How a Saudi deception protected bin Laden

Petrelis Files: Cops raid Texas gay bar on Pride Sunday

Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: It's never too early to politicize a celebrity death