Tuesday Mashup (4/27/10)

(And I also posted here.)

This may be the stupidest Mark Halperin “post” on his site “The Page” since this one – really has to be seen to be believed.

And under the heading of “particularly brainless corporate media,” I give you Fred Hiatt from Kaplan Test Prep Daily yesterday (here)…

When President Obama did not stir himself to rescue D.C. voting rights last week, advocates of democracy for the District joined a long line of disappointed thought-we-were-friends with the president.

Gays, immigrants, union leaders, budget hawks, campaign finance reformers, environmentalists, free-traders, human rights activists and civil libertarians all have had cause to wonder whether they were right to trust Obama. The list is familiar, but the explanation remains disputed.

First of all, as noted from a story linked to Hiatt’s column, the legislation died in the House due to gun-related shenanigans by Dem Travis Childers and Repug Mark Souder of Mississippi and Indiana, respectively. Secondly, as noted here, Obama called for passage of the law that would grant full voting rights to D.C. residents, but of course it didn’t happen.

But as noted here, though, Hiatt is an old pro when it comes to fact-free punditry.

Update: Speaking of the WaPo, I have to admit that mcjoan has me beat with this one.

Further, I found this item under the aptly-named blog “Hot Air”…

(Dem U.S. Congressman of Minnesota Jim) Oberstar has introduced the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA), which removes the word “navigable” from the law in order to get around Supreme Court decisions that circumscribed federal efforts to claim jurisdiction over lands and waterways that have nothing to do with interstate commerce. (The Cato Institute’s Jonathan) Adler presents the legal background of the CWRA and argues that it represents a massive land grab that has no connection to the original intent of the CWA…

Um, actually, the reason the word “navigable” (as in "navigable waters") was removed was because that was the word The Supremes of Hangin’ Judge JR keyed on in their recent ruling that restricted the Clean Water Act, as noted here last month…

Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.

The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”

To find out what else we can do about this, click here.

Finally, apparently, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, used some language today that, while wholly appropriate for yours truly considering that Levin was interrogating Goldman Sachs, still offended the delicate sensibilities of one Marc Thiessen, former Bushco flunky; he called it the “Bidenization of political discourse” and added that “Henry Clay and Daniel Webster must be rolling in their graves” here (warning: bad language alert).

That’s pretty funny considering that fellow Bushie Karl Rove once said “We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him” in a phone call noted by Ron Suskind here.

Also, noted here, “Bush’s Brain” once said, “Just give me a fucking faith-based thing” in response to whether or not he should “roll out” the White House Office of Faith-based Initiatives, as captured by Dubya insider David Kuo in his book.

And last but certainly least, I give you Deadeye Dick himself, who said recently here that telling Sen. Patrick Leahy to go fuck himself was “sort of the best thing I ever did.”

So, I wouldn’t think too much about Thiessen’s concern of either Clay or Webster and their earthly remains. Given Bushco’s antics and Webster’s quote that "Justice is the great interest of man on Earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together," I would say that Webster at least has been “rolling” for a good while now.