ThinkFast: July 26, 2010

The Wikileaks disclosure of thousands of pages of military documents reveals “how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents.” “These files bring to light what’s been a consistent trend by US and Nato forces: the concealment of civilian casualties,” said Rachel Reid of Human Rights Watch.

BP’s board is expected to name Robert Dudley as its new chief executive today, replacing the embattled Tony Hayward. Dudley would be the first American to run the British company, underscoring “how vital the United States has become to BP.” Dudley “would ascend to the top job on Oct. 1, allowing for a transition period.”

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, former DNC chairman Howard Dean accused the news network of “racist” behavior for its coverage of former USDA official Shirley Sherrod. “Fox News did something that was absolutely racist. They took a – they had an obligation to find out what was really in the clip,” said Dean.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner yesterday offered support for Elizabeth Warren to lead the new consumer protection agency established by Congress under the new financial regulation law. She is “probably the most effective advocate for reform for consumers for consumer protection in the country. … She has huge credibility,” he said.

After completing its fifth term, Chief Justice John Roberts’ Supreme Court has become “the most conservative one in living memory, based on an analysis of four sets of political science data.” During the first five years, the Roberts court “issued conservative decisions 58 percent of the time” and, in the last year, that rate “rose to 65 percent, the highest number in any year since at least 1953.”

The Obama administration is “deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants and auditing hundreds of businesses that blithely hire undocumented workers.” Deportations are up 10 percent from 2008 and 25 percent from last year while company audits have quadrupled. The effort is part of the President’s effort to make the nation’s immigration laws work.

Utility company lobbyists and CEOs are expressing angst about the Senate’s failure to propose a cap-and-trade bill that would create a system for them to buy and sell pollution rights. “I don’t know what more you can do,” Izzo said. “We are essentially volunteering to be the first to be regulated and people don’t want to do it.”

Paul Krugman writes today, “If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money. The economy as a whole wouldn’t be significantly hurt if we put a price on carbon, but certain industries — above all, the coal and oil industries — would. And those industries have mounted a huge disinformation campaign to protect their bottom lines.”

President Obama would veto legislation to suspend the “EPA’s plans to write new climate change rules,” a White House official said Friday. Led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the coal-state proposals would “block the EPA’s authority for two years” and would “undercut what is widely seen as Obama’s alternative climate policy.”

And finally: Last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) insisted that he has “real empathy for those who are unemployed,” even though he and his fellow Republicans continue to block unemployment benefits. But he admitted that he had no idea whether his brothers who had lost their jobs had found new ones. One of Boehner’s brothers who would have lost his unemployment benefits had his brother’s obstruction succeeded said, however, that he wasn’t bitter.

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