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Ninth Circuit Rejects ‘Citizens United on Steroids’ Attack On Corporate Campaign Limits | On Tuesday, a Republican trial judge reaffirmed his decision permitting corporations to contribute directly to political campaigns — a decision that could effectively end all meaningful restrictions on campaign finance because it would allow the super-rich to funnel unlimited donations to candidates through multiple shell corporations. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reached the opposite result, rejecting a request to enjoin a San Diego ban on corporate donations to candidates.

Security

Israel Hawks Admit Israel’s ‘Indefensible’ 1967 Borders Are Defensible

By Matt Duss on Jun 9, 2011 at 6:00 pm

In the wake of President Obama’s May 19 speech on the Middle East and his statement that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,” we’ve heard a lot about how Israel’s 1967 borders were/are supposedly “indefensible.” This trope featured prominently in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu various responses to President Obama’s speech, regardless of the fact that President Obama had not actually called for Israel to return to those borders, merely to recognize them as the basis of negotiations. As Noah Pollak of the neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel acknowledged, there’s nothing new about this approach.

Further undermining the complaints about the 1967 borders, of course, is the fact that in the 1967 war, those borders were defended by Israel. As we’ve just passed the anniversary of that war, this led to some pretty humorous formulations by those trying to simultaneously trumpet Israel’s victory and hold the Israeli government line on how unacceptable those borders are.

“In six days,” wrote Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in Foreign Policy, “Israel repelled” the Arab armies against whom it had launched a pre-emptive attack “and established secure boundaries”:

It drove the Egyptians from the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrians, who had also opened fire, from the Golan Heights. Most significantly, Israel replaced the indefensible armistice lines by reuniting Jerusalem and capturing the West Bank from Jordan.

Understand? The armistice lines were so indefensible that they were not only defended, but expanded in six days to include the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula.

Similarly, Cliff May of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, amidst a typical screed about how horrible and dishonest the Arabs are, describes “the 1967 borders” as “the lines at which five Arab armies were stopped in 1949.” Don’t look now, Cliff, but you’ve just described defensible borders.

I grant that all of this is somewhat beside the point, as President Obama has not suggested that Israel should withdraw to these borders. But, as Matt Yglesias wrote, “Israel needs defensible borders” is a much more sympathetic argument than “Israel wants to grab and keep as much Palestinian land as possible,” which is why, as long as borders are an issue, we’ll keep seeing self-contradicting claims about how indefensible the old borders were.

Climate Progress

Rabid Climate Zombie Santorum Tells Limbaugh That Global Warming Is ‘Junk Science’

By Brad Johnson on Jun 9, 2011 at 5:31 pm

Speaking with conservative enforcer Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said he believed that global warming is a left-wing government conspiracy. Santorum drew a strong distinction between his conspiracy theory and the recent statements by frontrunner Mitt Romney, who claimed to accept the scientific fact of man-made global warming. In contrast, Santorum said he believed it “patently absurd” that increasing carbon dioxide concentrations by 40 percent could warm the earth:

I believe the Earth gets warmer, and I also believe the Earth gets cooler. And I think history points out that it does that. The idea that man, through the production of CO2 — which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the man-made part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas — uh, is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all of the other factors — El Niño, La Niña, sunspots, uh, uh, you know, moisture in the air — there’s a variety of factors that contribute to the earth warming.

To me there is opportunity for the left — it’s a beautifully concocted scheme. It’s been on a warming trend so they said, ‘Oh, let’s take advantage of that and say that we need the government to come in and regulate your life some more because it’s getting warmer.’ Just like they did in the ’70s when it was getting cooler, they needed the government to come in and regulate your life because it was getting cooler. It’s just an excuse for more government control of your life and I’ve never been for any scheme or even accepted the junk science behind the whole narrative.

Listen here:

In his brief rant, Santorum managed to invoke climate denier myths #1, #2, #5, #11, #23, #33, #34, #56, #59, #98, and #99.

Economy

Education Reform Scorecard: Who Is Making Education A Priority?

By Guest Blogger on Jun 9, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Our guest bloggers are Theodora Chang, an Education Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Devin McMahon, an intern with the education policy team at CAPAF.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Minnesota last week to meet with students and discuss the likelihood of reforming the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s main education law:

“I just want a sense of urgency,” Duncan told reporters in St. Paul. “We’ve got children out here, we’ve got teachers out here. We’ve got parents and principals who need change now.”

Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, also say that they believe that fixing education should be a priority. But do their actions match their words? Here’s a look at the scorecard so far:


Chamber Committee Key Stats: Republicans Key Stats: Democrats
House Education and Workforce 23 Committee members.
Total of 9 bills introduced.
19 members have not introduced any education-related legislation. 		17 Committee members.
Total of 23 bills introduced.
3 members have not introduced any education-related legislation.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 10 Senators.
Total of 1 bill introduced. 		12 Senators.
Total of 28 bills introduced.

The bills introduced by Democrats address key priorities such as teacher and principal quality, early childhood education, expanded learning time, special education, turnaround schools, and wraparound services. The bills introduced by Republicans address issues such as recycling leftover school cafeteria food, and cutting education programs.

Even without discussing the merits of the bills they have put forth, it’s clear that Republicans are way behind the ball when it comes to spurring action on education reform. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) recently justified eliminating 43 programs by saying that they were “just too complicated” and “difficult” to deal with. Let’s hope that’s not the same stance that lawmakers take with the rest of the law.

Yglesias

Tim Pawlenty’s Back To Bush Economic Agenda

By Matthew Yglesias on Jun 9, 2011 at 5:29 pm

As I said before, Tim Pawlenty’s economic policy speech was clear enough to tell you what direction he wants to take the country. It’s a direction Ross Douthat accurately describes as a return to Bushism and something of a retreat from Paul Ryan’s austerity conservatism:

The speech has some of the Ryan budget’s political vulnerabilities, in a sense, without the Ryan’s budget’s guts: Whereas Ryan actually took the entitlement bull by the horns, Pawlenty seems to use his supply-side growth projections as a substitute for Medicare reform instead of adding them on as gravy. Reading it, you would think that the Bush economy was a huge, roaring success, since Pawlenty has little to say about the pocketbook issues that helped elect Barack Obama in the first place (wage stagnation, health care costs, etc.). And reading the excited reception that the speech is getting from movement organs, it’s clear that a great many conservatives have learned next to nothing from the trends that turned them out of office just a few short years ago.

That’s right on. And the problem here is that the Bush diagnosis is less plausible than ever. Bush ran during a period of budget surpluses that he claimed ought to be returned to taxpayers. And the right has a hardy perennial story about tax cuts increasing labor supply that doesn’t make a ton of sense in an economy where the unemployment rate is already 9.1 percent.

Climate Progress

Is the Apple iPad Green — and Does it Matter?

By Joe Romm on Jun 9, 2011 at 5:20 pm

The Apple iPad 2 [source AP]

There’s no denying the iPad is a hot item. Apple’s tablet computer, which is primarily used for audio-visual media such as e-books, movies, games, music, the web, and talking live, got an upgrade in March. If it sells like the first iPad, you can expect the figures to reach the tens of millions. But is it an eco-conscious product?  This CAP repost looks at this question.

[Joe Romm:  My family owns an iPad.  I will add comments to this post since the question is trickier than it looks -- you really have to know what the iPad is replacing.  That will vary by user and change over time as application software improves.]

UPDATE:  I’ve added a Featured Comment from Dr. Jon Koomey, Consulting Professor at Stanford University, and a leading expert on the energy impact of electronics and the internet.

Apple sure thinks the product itself is green. They put out an environmental profile of the iPad that cites several features designed to reduce its impact on the planet, including:

Read more

NEWS FLASH

The List Of ACA Programs That May Never Be Funded | As former CMS head Bruce Vladeck explains, “Since the law was passed, the budgetary picture in Congress has changed dramatically. So stuff (Obama administration officials) were interested in doing when health reform passed, they now have a realistic sense that…they are never going to get an appropriation to do it.” Kaiser Health News has the list of the endangered programs.

Alyssa

My President Is Black, Cont.

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jun 9, 2011 at 5:17 pm

Herman Cain may say that he has an advantage over the rest of the Republican field because his race neutralizes a key Obama asset. Nominating Cain might give Republican candidates black-candidate parity, but judging by the available evidence, Cain still faces an unofficial campaign song gap:

I’ll get anxious when conservatives level up and produce a tense standoff with Young Jeezy:

Alyssa

‘Skins’ Is Dead

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jun 9, 2011 at 4:49 pm

I never got around to watching MTV’s remake of the acclaimed British series. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Parents Television Council claims the cancellation as a victory for decency. But my sense from friends who watched is that the show didn’t find a following not because it was uber-scandalous, but because the raciness wasn’t to any particular end.

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