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BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Maintains Bar On Discharges Under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell | In response to a petition from the Department of Justice seeking an emergency stay on a July 6 ruling that blocked further enforcement of the 1993 law, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals late today granted the government’s request on a temporary basis ahead of further proceedings next week — technically putting the law back into effect.  The latest ruling in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, however, came with one big asterisk that will prevent discharges from moving forward.  Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly explains:

The move puts the 1993 law banning military service back into effect until the court can make a more complete determination about whether to reconsider the July 6 order — while continuing to prevent the military from “investigating, penalizing, or discharging anyone from the military pursuant to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.”

 

NEWS FLASH

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick: Failing To Raise The Debt Ceiling Will Create Catastrophe For States | Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) wrote a letter to Congressional leaders today urging them to raise the federal debt ceiling. “Massachusetts draws down over $200 million in federal reimbursements weekly for programs ranging from Medicaid to food assistance,” Patrick wrote. “Failure by the U.S. government to meet its obligations to the Commonwealth for even a short period of time could create a serious state cash-flow issue. As demonstrated in the latest jobs report, state governments are still reeling from the recession and can ill afford to bear the brunt of such a preventable crisis.” The National Governor’s Association has also urged Congress to increase the debt ceiling.

Economy

Pawlenty Flip-Flops On Debt Ceiling In 20 Seconds: ‘I Wish They Wouldn’t Raise It’ To ‘They’re Going To Have To’

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm

GOP Presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty has been all over the place when it comes to his position on raising the nation’s debt ceiling. He has said that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be good for the economy, endorsed Republican attempts to raise it only as long as cockamamie budget plans are attached, but then refused to rule out raising it were he to become President.

However, Pawlenty’s debt ceiling fickleness reached new heights today during an interview with CNBC. Literally twenty seconds after telling CNBC’s Steve Leisman that “I wish they wouldn’t raise” the debt ceiling, Pawlenty said that the debt ceiling does, in fact, have to be raised:

LEISMAN: So you favor default by the United States? Is that what you’re saying? Under any circumstances you would not raise the debt ceiling without sufficient spending cuts?

PAWLENTY: They’ve already gone through the debt ceiling, they went through it in May, so I’m saying I wish they wouldn’t raise it, but if they’re going to raise it, at least get some structural reform and improvement so we’re on a better trajectory going forward.

LEISMAN: But Governor, hold on the other side here. Are you saying you are willing to accept default and/or breaching the debt ceiling in the absence of sufficient spending cuts?

PAWLENTY: No, I think they’re going to have to raise the debt ceiling, but what I’m saying is if they do that, as they do that, they should get some structural reform.

Watch it:

Pawlenty has, of course, changed positions on several key issues, including cap and trade, but this interview must surely set a record for Pawlenty’s quickest change of heart regarding policy. It’s worth mentioning that the tax cut plan Pawlenty has proposed would be three times more expensive than the Bush tax cuts and “by 2021, under Pawlenty’s plan, total publicly held debt would exceed 100 percent of GDP — over $24 trillion,” obviously necessitating a substantial increase in the debt ceiling.

Alyssa

On ‘A Dance With Dragons’

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:50 pm

There are massive spoilers for all five of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, including the recently-published A Dance With Dragons, in this post. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I’ve long been a defender of the idea that George R.R. Martin will definitely finish A Song of Ice and Fire, less on the grounds that I have faith in the man himself, and more on the rationale that capitalism is powerful, and HBO doesn’t mess around. But while I though certain parts of A Dance With Dragons were profoundly moving and very effectively structured, the novel as a whole left me with grave concerns that Martin has a coherent master plan to bring the story to a manageable conclusion. I’d expected that this would be the point in the series when events—if not Martin’s world as a whole—would start to contract and gain momentum as the story moves towards a central conflict.

I was wrong. Instead of focusing, the story adds points of view and conflicts. Now, instead of one surviving Targaryen, we’ve got two—Aegon, Rheager’s son, is apparently alive and well and bumming around with Rheager’s childhood best friend, Jon Connington. Davos Seaworth is off on a mad quest to find Rickon Stark, one of the most invisible characters in the entire series. Mance Rayder is alive and well and living, if not in Paris, at least in Westeros. The Horn of Winter is apparently still out there, maybe on Victarion’s ship, maybe in Sam’s cache of dragonglass. We’re tangled up in a comparative anthropology of sellsword companies. It’s exhausting. And I think the only way to continue reading the novels is to focus your emotional energies on a couple of key storylines and characters. So while these thoughts are by no means complete, they’re the things that grabbed me most strongly on a first read of A Dance With Dragons.

I. The Nation-Builders

George R.R. Martin’s always been a cynic about the possibility of ruling justly in Westeros or across the narrow sea, but there’s still something agonizing about watching Jon and Dany, who take diverging approaches to governing, meeting with bitter failures.
Read more

Yglesias

Serge Ibaka And The Case For Immigration

By Matthew Yglesias on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:28 pm

Serge Ibaka was born in Congo and lives in the United States where he plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he played pro hoops in Spain for several years and can bring much-needed toughness and defense to the Spanish national team. Consequently, they’ve made him a citizen:

Ibaka must swear loyalty to the Spanish crown and constitution to complete the nationalization process before he can team with Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol and brother Marc of the Memphis Grizzlies in a formidable frontcourt for Spain.

“Pau is possibly the most talented center with the best fundamentals in the (NBA),” Ibaka said. “It will be a dream to play with him.”

Spain has Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez in the back court so this is a very potent team. Of course you could see this as a way of taking a job away from a hard-working Spaniard. But a better way of looking at it is that skills are complementary. A higher-performing team featuring Ibaka’s talents will be good for all Ibaka’s coworkers, the other players, the coaches, etc. as well as for Spanish hoops fans.

Climate Progress

Climate Science Denier Brandishes Noose to Scientist

By Joe Romm on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:25 pm


I reported last month that Australian climate scientists have been facing death threats and cyberbullying.  Sadly, the video makes clear that this now extends to visiting scientists.

Climate change has hit Australia harder than almost anywhere else, first with the decade long Big Dry and then the once-in-500-year deluges of the past year.  Hell and High Water.

But many climate science deniers are so entrenched in their anti-government, anti-scientist ideology that they are simply impervious to reality.  So they actually threaten the scientists who are trying to warn everybody about the looming catastrophe (see “UK Guardian slams Morano for cyber-bullying and for urging violence against climate scientists“).

The Australian reports on the latest incident:

Read more

Climate Progress

House Votes To Restore $90 Million Of $2.3 Billion Cut From Green Energy Research

By Brad Johnson on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:24 pm

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

In a small victory for the clean energy economy, the House of Representatives narrowly approved the restoration of $90 million in clean energy research out of $2.3 billion cut in the FY 2012 budget. The House energy and water appropriations bill up for consideration today had eviscerated the Department of Energy’s energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE/RE) budget by $1.9 billion and the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) budget by $450 million from the president’s request.

Two Democratic amendments were approved today, restoring four percent of the cuts. By a 214-213 vote, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to shift $79,640,000 from the DOE administrative budget back into ARPA-E. Then, by a 212-210 vote, the House approved a Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) amendment to shift $10 million from the DOE administrative budget to the EE/RE budget.

These largely symbolic votes for clean energy will pare down the DOE administrative budget to the bone, slashing the presidential request of $305 million to around $170 million, a 50 percent cut from 2011 levels. The amendments passed with the support of a small number of Republican representatives, who now risk the wrath of the fossil fuel industry for only pushing the polluter agenda 96 percent of the way:

Kaptur Amendment: $10 Million For EE/RE, Approved 212-210.

33 GOP AYES: Roscoe Bartlett (MD), Charlie Bass (NH), Brian Bilbray (CA), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Diane Black (TN), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Dave Camp (MI), Bill Cassidy (LA), Charlie Dent (PA), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA), Jeff Fortenberry (NE), Jim Gerlach (PA), Chris Gibson (NY), Louie Gohmert (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Mike Hanna (NY), Andy Harris (MD), Joe Heck (NV), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), Tim Johnson (IL), Walter Jones (NC), Leonard Lance (NJ), Bob Latta (OH), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Michael McCaul (TX), Tom Petri (WI), Todd Platts (PA), Dave Reichert (WA), Jean Schmidt (OH), David Schweikert (AZ), Chris Smith (NJ), Steve Stivers (OH), Fred Upton (MI)

7 DEM NOES: Dan Boren (OK), Jim Costa (CA), Steny Hoyer (MD), Jim Matheson (UT), Mike McIntyre (NC), Collin Peterson (MN), Pete Visclosky (IN)

Schiff Amendment: $80 Million For ARPA-E, Approved 214-213.

34 GOP AYES: Bartlett, Bass, Dan Benishek (MI), Howard Coble (NC), Scott DesJarlais (TN), Bob Dold (IL), John Duncan Jr. (TN), Stephen Fincher (TN), Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Gibson, Bob Goodlatte (VA), Griffith (VA), Harris, Heck, Johnson, Jones, Adam Kinzinger (IL), Lance, Steven LaTourette (OH), LoBiondo, Dan Lungren (CA), Don Manzullo (IL), Tom Marino (PA), McCaul, John Mica (FL), Petri, Platts, Reichert, Austin Scott (GA), Lamar Smith (TX), Allen West (FL), Rob Woodall (GA)

8 DEM NOES: Norm Dicks (WA), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Ed Pastor (AZ), José Serrano (NY), Edolphus Towns (NY), Nydia Velázquez (NY), Visclosky, Henry Waxman (CA)

The 15 Republicans who voted for both amendments were Bartlett, Bass, Fitzpatrick, Gerlach, Gibson, Harris, Heck, Johnson, Jones, Lance, LoBiondo, McCaul, Petri, Platts, and Reichert.

Alyssa

Musical Theater And The Social Safety Net

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jul 15, 2011 at 5:21 pm

I hadn’t listened to the Evita cast recording for a while, so I’d forgotten how great “And the Money Kept Rolling In” is at laying out the case that badly managed private philanthropy is no substitute for a durable social safety net:

Now I sort of want Andrew Lloyd Webber to write a musical about how Che Guevara took the lessons of the Perón regime way too much to heart, though it would probably be pretty depressing and there’d be less fun ’40s fashion porn.

NEWS FLASH

Doug Feith Advising Rick Perry On Foreign Policy | The National Review Online reports that Texas GOP governor Rick Perry appears to be getting serious about running for president because apparently he is “brushing up on foreign policy.” And who is helping Perry with the brushing? None other than Doug Feith, whom Gen. Tommy Franks famously referred to as the “stupidest guy on the face of the earth.” Feith is also well known for leading the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans (a.k.a “The Lie Factory“) that cooked up faulty intel on Iraq’s WMD program before the invasion.

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