Reason Morning Links: Climate Bill Hits Senate, Plane Down in Libya, Incumbents May Face Tough Election Year

• Sens. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduce climate change bill.
• Not that there's anything wrong with that.
• Jet with 104 aboard goes down in Tripoli, Libya.
• Anti-incumbent fever strikes again, with Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-WV) losing in last night's primary.
• Federal prosecutors take aim at Morgan Stanley.

Comments

[2010 Voter]

Voters' anti-establishment mood bites both parties

Warming up for November.

[Nancy Pelosi]

The details of a long-awaited US bill on climate change are to be made public later

That is, after the bill is passed.

[Astrid]

It's the only way we can figure out what you put in it.

[Valerie Jarrett]

You'll love it when you've been screwed by it!

[Rahm Emanuel]

Oh, Val, you're even cuter when you talk that way!

[Xeones]

Warming up for November.

Let's hope the voters don't use up all their rage before then.

Ideally, a lot of incumbents would literally get run out of town on a rail, but these times have a twisted notion of civility that prevents most public humiliation of people who deserve it.

[Rich]

The powers-that-be continually stoke the rage. "Just when you thought ...."

I agree with you about the underutilization of humiliation. (Band name?) Maybe those tar balls in the Gulf can be "recycled".

[Jerry]

Another friend, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, a member of Kagan's social circle at Princeton University, wanted to make the same point as Walzer. "I did not go out with her, but other guys did," he said in an email Tuesday night. "I don't think it is my place to say more."

No please, say more, we want all the juicy details!!

[ed]

Urge to vomit rising...

[capitol l]

I may be wrong, but it seems as if Spitzer is indirectly calling her a skank.

"I mean she was with a lot of dudes, a lot, not that I would ever...no way...too gross, c'mon man you know I was wasted that night."

[John]

In fairness to Kagan, she doesn't date for money. So was of no interest to Spitzer.

[The Angry Optimist]

I had a Con Law professor who talked about his days with Kagan with what could either be a lusty or creepy look...hard telling.

[ed]

Rising...

[John]

Can't it be both? Everyone is someone's type.

[ed]

The more I think about it the more appropriate it seems, that law-schoolers should engage in this sort of self-abasement, degradation and cruelty, as preparation for their chosen profession.

[John Thacker]

And the financial reform bill won't address Fannie and Freddie, as the Senate rejected the McCain Amendment to direct the government to come up with a plan within two years to wind up (or otherwise fully privatize) Fannie and Freddie within five years. All Republicans plus Bayh and Feingold for the amendment, all other Democrats and Independents against it.

Democrats are using the time worn excuse of "later" for when they'll deal with Fannie and Freddie.

[John]

I read someone the other day who referred to this Congress as a potential mad duck. They were talking about them doing crazy things when they meet after the election and have nothing to lose. It looks like Mad Duck may happen earlier. The less popular the Congress gets, the more likely they are to figure they have lost anyway and go all in on insanity and theft.

[Bingo]

I figured that already happened with all the "not running for re-election" announcements

[James Ard]

Yes, they all already know their doomed. An energy tax in today's economy is pure insanity, politically.

[Chad]

Al Gore told me to say that an energy tax is necessary. The economy can go fuck itself.

Quote, unquote.

[CoyoteBlue]

That's why we need to recycle the Gulf tarballs by pelting members of congress whenever they go out in public. [reference the story of the Tar Baby]

[Al Sharpton]

Racist!

[TrickyVic]

Then throw them in the briar patch.

[Kolohe]

In West Virginia, 14-term Rep. Alan Mollohan lost the Democratic nomination for his seat to state Sen. Mike Oliverio on Tuesday. Oliverio attacked Mollohan from the right, rather than the left, and focused on the lawmaker's history of ethics probes.

With the more overt corrpution charges, this one strikes me as a bit sui generis then, and not part of the larger trend - as most of the other primary challenges are coming from the more "pure" wings of their respective parties.

[John]

But there was a time when even crook incumbents got re-elected.

[Ska]

Like the thirteen elections after he won his first one?

[Mediocrity]

Those "ethics concerns" have been an issue for 5 elections. West Virginia does not have a history of ditching corrupt politicians. Embracing more likely.
WV has gone more Republican in the last 10 years, even if voter registration doesn't reflect it. So I'll agree it doesn't go along with the ideological purity meme.

[John]

If being a porker and voting for Obamacare can do you in in a Democratic primary, what will it do to you in the general election? Bob Bennett went down last week. This guy went down this week. Alen Spector will probably go down next week. In both parties corrupt insiders seem to be having a bad year.

[Mike M.]

It didn't get a lot of attention, but things are so bad for congressional democrats that even dopey David Obey announced his retirement a few days ago, and the republicans have a real shot to get that seat.

[Rich]

That incumbents are and will be dropping like flies is a good sign. However, unless voters elect *non-republicrats* our fearless leaders will still not "get it".

[John]

Very true. But when you purge people like Bennett, Obey, Spector and Feingold you are purging people that have spent decades being corrupted by power. It will take the new guys a long time to get to that level of depravity.

[Rich]

It will take the new guys a long time to get to that level of depravity.

I h-word you're right, John, but things change quickly in these days of modern time. "A falling tide lowers all boats."

[R C Dean]

But when you purge people like Bennett, Obey, Spector and Feingold you are purging people that have spent decades being corrupted by power.

I honestly don't think Russ Feingold has been corrupted by power. He strikes me as an earnest lefty, rather than a kleptocrat (unlike the other three). Of course, earnest lefties vote for kleptocratic policies; they just don't line their pockets, personally, so it may be a distinction without a difference.

[John Thacker]

Feingold's pretty decent, and he doesn't vote in favor of the worst kleptocratic policies. Against the Patriot Act, and recently was one of two to vote for the "wind down Fannie and Freddie" amendment.

[x,y]

But when you purge people like Bennett, Obey, Spector and Feingold you are purging people that have spent decades being corrupted by power. It will take the new guys a long time to get to that level of depravity.

You're forgetting there's already a stable of craven reps waiting in line. The new guys won't be as bad as the guys leaving because they can't be. The guys who have been there a while, well, that's another story.

[John]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....71974.html

Interesting article on Glenn Greewald's profoundly dishonest attacks on Elana Kagan. I don't know why people still read that hack.

[John]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....71974.html

Interesting article on Glenn Greewald's profoundly dishonest attacks on Elana Kagan. I don't know why people still read that hack.

[Death Panelist]

[Kerry] said a failure to pass the bill would mean Congress "will be rendered incapable of solving this issue".

Don't worry, John. I'm sure you can create or make up some other problem for Congress to solve by sacrificing jobs and/or taxpayer money soon enough.

[Jozef]

http://www.timepolls.com/hppol.....s_660.html

78% of Time.com readers believe that race is the most important factor in selecting a Supreme Court nominee.

(Would be much more funny if the poll results weren't skewed this way by /b/)

[?????]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that, erm, racist? (By definition.)

[Ska]

That depends - is the Justice in question white?

[Skid Marx]

Study: Lower IQs in adult sickle cell patients

In a study to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from Children's Hospital Oakland found that adults with sickle cell disease had lower IQ scores than patients in a control group. The study didn't look into reasons why the scores may be lower, although the authors suggested that anemia caused by sickle cell disease may be a factor.

The good news is that the cognitive problems seem to be reversible.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....z0niwzVUpx

[Rhywun]

I know I shouldn't care about what's-her-name's non-lesbianism... but if it comes out that she and her supporters were lying about it under the likely misguided belief that anyone gives a shit... the repercussions would be quite interesting.

[John]

Maybe the woman is just asexual. Back before we started obsessing over and defining everyone by their sexuality. There used to be "confirmed bachelors". These were just people who just sort of defied categorization and lived a sexless life by choice. We don't ever recognize those kinds of people anymore, although they certainly still exist. We always assume anyone not hopping into bed with someone of the opposite sex at every opportunity and is not married is gay.

I think the whole thing is gross. She is homely masculine woman so everyone assumes she must be gay. Interestingly enough, it is the gay Andrew Sullivan who has been the most gross about it. Well, they tell me that gay men and lesbians don't usually get along. So maybe that explains it.

[Zeb]

I am sure that confirmed bachelors such as you describe did and do exist, but I think that it was mostly a nice (wink, wink) way to talk about gay guys in a time when being out was not an option for many.

[John]

Sometimes yes, but not always. There are people out there who just are not that interested in sex. They used to become priests. That was back before being gay and living the gay life became necessary to get through the seminary.

[Ragin Cajun]

Lavender Mafia!

[zoltan]

John is right, though. There are asexuals in the world, though you're probably very right about the "confirmed bachelor" term.

[highnumber]

I think the whole thing is gross.

Of course you do. Would you like to talk about that?

[John]

It is gross to judge people by their appearances and engage in prurient speculation about their sex lives.

[highnumber]

Mmmhhmmm.

Why do you think people do that?

[John]

Because people are generally shallow pigs who can't help themselves. Do you really need everything explained to you?

[highnumber]

I'm sorry. We'll come back to this.

[ed]

How can she be a lesbian? She plays softball!

Oh.

[P Brooks]

the likely misguided belief that anyone gives a shit.

Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of people who give a shit; they shouldn't, but I suspect they do.

[Skid Marx]

Oh I don't know. With regard to Kagen, the expectation is that we don't ask and she doesn't tell. Okay. But what if a "Don't ask don't tell" case comes before the court?

[Rhywun]

Yes, but I think "society" has reached the point where she'd be better off telling the truth than trying to hide it. All speculative of course.... But if she's lying--and got her buddies to help her!--that would just be disgraceful.

[P Brooks]

Headline from google News:

White House to Unveil Legislation to Respond to Oil Spills

Is there *nothing* words-on-paper cannot accomplish?

[T]

After all, the words on paper are going to make BP, et al., act faster to stop their valuable product being washed up on a Louisiana island and subjecting them to decades of lawsuits. Yessir, without the ineffectual hand of government BP would have just lollygagged and gotten around to fixing it sometime next year.

Magical thinking at its finest. If we sacrifice to the sun god, the summer will come! If we pass this legislation, nothing bad will happen again! 5,000 years of civilization and we're still, as a whole, fucking stupid.

[Nick]

That's what makes it so damned uncomfortable for the relative few intelligent and aware people. Fortunately, the internet allows us to come together to make fun of everyone else.

[TrickyVic]

I don't care if she's gay or not, but we armchair quarterback all kinds of shit on this board. Why should Kagan's sexual orientation be any different?

We can call POTUS all sorts of names but talking about Kagan's sexual orientation suppose to be bad? I don't think so.

[R C Dean]

As so often happens, its not the crime, its the coverup. Let's get clear up front that I don't give a crap that Kagan is a lesbian (Of course she's a lesbian - who's kidding who, here?).

All sorts of administration proxies are out there denying she's a lesbian.

The press is doing its usual world-class job of not investigating.

All on the assumption that we can't handle the truth.

If she gets confirmed as not-a-lesbian, then we will either have (a) a post-confirmation revelation that we were lied to about a Supreme Court nominee or (b) a forty-year coverup about a Supreme Court Justice.

Both of those strike me as Bad Things.

[highnumber]

Why "of course she is..."? What have you based that on?