The Commentariat -- April 2

President Obama's Weekly Address:

Today's Weader Award for Irony Goes to ...

... The SEC. David Hilzenrath of the Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission, which demands good accounting in the corporate world, has considerable trouble keeping its own books, according to a report this week by federal auditors.... The problems are not new: Auditors have been issuing warnings about the SEC’s internal accounting for years, and the SEC has acknowledged weaknesses. But the situation worsened in 2010 as temporary patches failed, according to GAO officials."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: especially since states have made massive budget cutbacks, Medicaid now "pays doctors so little that many refuse to take its patients."

"Cruel but Not Unusual. Clarence Thomas Writes One of the Meanest Supreme Court Decisions Ever." Dahlia Lithwick of Slate shows that Justice Scalia's concurring opinion in the case of Thompson v. Connick is just as bad. In the course of this article involving the case of multiple ADAs suppressing multiple exculpatory documents that would have exonerated or helped to exonerate an innocent man who was on death row for 18 years & many times faced a scheduled execution, Lithwick calls the Justices "apathetic," demonstrating "a moral flat line," "hyper-technical," "deliberaely callous," "pitiless" and "scornful." When you read the particulars, you'll think Lithwick is being overly polite. These are two evil "Justices" who don't give a flying fuck about justice. That goes for Kennedy, Roberts & Alito, too.

New York Times Editors: "... continuing hate crimes [against Muslims] were laid bare at a valuable but barely noticed Senate hearing last week that provided welcome contrast to Representative Peter King’s airing of his xenophobic allegation that the Muslim-American community has been radicalized. In running the hearing, Senator Richard Durbin tried to set the record straight about the patriotism of a vast majority of American-Muslim citizens and the continuing assaults on their civil rights. He warned against the 'guilt by association' whipped up by Mr. King’s broadsides...." C-SPAN has video of the hearings.

Joe Nocera has his first op-ed column in today's Times, which he devotes to Warren Buffett's completely unconvincing gloss of "what looks like insider trading" by Buffett's No. 2 man, David Sokol. CW: Martha Stewart went to jail for doing a lot less than Sokol did. According to Nocera, Sokol negotiated a takeover of a company called Lubrizol & actively encouraged Buffett to go for it at the same time Sokol was trading in Lubrizol stocks. Sokol made about $3 million on the stocks when Buffett acquired Lubrizol, at Sokol's urging. Does anybody think the SEC will go after the deputy of President Obama's friend Warren Buffett the way they went after Stewart? Time will tell. Comments are here. ...

... Nocera's account is consistent with this one by Serene Ng & Eric Holm of the Wall Street Journal. ...

... Buffett's support for Sokol is all the more perplexing when you figure he must have known of Sokol's past. Peter Cohan of AOL details some of Sokol's earlier misdeeds, which include (1) a huge stockholder ripoff effected by cooking the books (a Nebraska court ordered Sokol to pay $32 milllion to the plaintiffs for that stunt), (2) tricking the directors of his own company into selling it to Buffett (Sokol settled with shareholders out of court for $7.5 million).

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: Islamic radicals "are now leaping aboard the democracy bandwagon, alarming those who believe that religious radicals are seeking to put in place strict Islamic law through ballots."

Right Wing World

Gail Collins: "In a potential Republican field that includes Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, it’s hard to come up with a line of attack loopy enough to stand out from the pack. But darned if [Donald] Trump didn’t manage to find one." Comments are here.

Local News

Wisconsin ...

The video below is a "closing argument" against conservative State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, who is up for re-election Tuesday. (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel provides the backstory on the incident outlined in the video.) Before the Wisconsin union protests, Prosser was probably a shoo-in. Former Democratic Gov. Patrick Lucey, for instance, was Prosser's campaign co-chair. This past week, Lucey withdrew his support & endorsed Prosser's challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, saying Prosser demonstrated "a disturbing distermper and lack of civility." Yeah, I guess:

     ... BUT, beware. That brilliant Constitutional scholar (the First Amendment guarantees that nobody can criticize me) and expert on Wisconsin jurisprudence Sarah Palin has endorsed Prosser, and outside interests backing Prosser have outspent those supporting Kloppenburg. ...

     ... AND a a group called Citizens for a Strong America is running a TV ad which claims, among other things, that "Kloppenburg is so extreme, she even put an 80-year-old farmer in jail for refusing to plant native vegetation on his farm." The ad earned a "Pants-on-Fire" rating from Wisconsin PolitiFact.

David Dayan of Firedoglake: "The chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin is confident that at least six of the eight recall elections of state Senators that the party is seeking will be successful, leading to an unprecedented set of recall elections in the summer or fall."

Maine ...

Some of the panels in the mural depicting the history of labor in Maine, by artist Judy Taylor of Tremont, Maine. FDR Labor Secretary Frances Perkins is represented (left) in the second panel pictured. Perkins, who is buried in Maine, was the first woman member of a U.S. presidential cabinet. Via the New York Times. Peter Catapano of the New York Times rounds up a few opinions by writers opposed to Maine Gov. Paul LePage's decision to remove a mural from the labor department that depicts, well, laborers. One of those opinionators is former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. In the meantime, as I pointed out in my comment on Catapano's post ...

Asked last week what he would do if protesters engaged in civil disobedience to protest removal of the mural, Gov. LePage said he would "laugh at the idiots." It turns out the "idiots" may get the last laugh.

... A lawsuit has been filed over removal of the mural, claiming that removal violates the First & Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs are a union leader, an OSHA employee, three artists & an attorney. ...

... Meanwhile, a Democratic member of the state legislature has introduced a bill providing for recall of the governor & other state officials. ...

... At the same time, some state senators from LePage's own party are blasting him in an op-ed to be published in some state newspapers on Monday.

Florida ...

More from America's Worst Governor Sociopath. Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones: "Continuing his assault on Florida's most vulnerable, Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order on Thursday that immediately slashes money for the developmentally disabled. The cuts will reduce payments to group homes and social workers by 15 percent. Here's the Orlando Sentinel story; it will sicken you. ...

... The State Column: "According to the latest poll, Florida governor Rick Scott is the least popular governor in the nation. After just three months in office, Mr. Scott, a Republican, is facing a major backlash from voters. If he stood for re-election today, he would likely lose by a landslide, according to research released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling.

... He Said "Uterus!" Pierre Tristam in Common Dreams on "Florida legislators' creepy uterus obsession."

News Ledes

Al Jazeera: "US and Egyptian special forces have reportedly been offering covert armed training to rebel fighters in the battle for Libya, Al Jazeera has been told. An unnamed rebel source related how he had undergone training in military techniques at a 'secret facility' in eastern Libya."

New York Times: "A NATO airstrike near the battlefront in eastern Libya killed 13 rebel fighters outside the pivotal port city of Brega, a rebel spokesman and wounded fighters said Saturday."

New York Times: "As rebels swept across Ivory Coast in a rapid advance last week to oust the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, hundreds of people were killed in a single town, the United Nations and aid groups said Saturday, in the worst episode of violence during the four-month political crisis that has plunged the country back into civil war."

New York Times: "The head of a United Nations panel that investigated Israel’s invasion of Gaza two years ago has retracted the central and most explosive assertion of the report — that Israel purposely killed Palestinian civilians there. Richard Goldstone, an esteemed South African jurist who led a panel of experts that spent months examining the Gaza war, wrote in an opinion article in The Washington Post, which was posted on its Web site on Friday night, that Israeli investigations into the conflict 'indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.'” Goldstone's Washington Post op-ed is here.

CNN: "Mike Huckabee won a 2012 presidential straw poll conducted in a key South Carolina county Saturday."

The Hill: "The House narrowly passed legislation on Friday that calls for a House-passed FY 2011 spending bill to become law should the Senate fail to approve a spending bill by April 6. It would also prevent members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown. The bill, H.R. 1255, was approved over bitter Democratic opposition in a 221-202 vote in which no Democrats supported it, and 15 Republicans opposed it." CW: this is the bill that is clearly unconstitutional in that it declares a bill passed if the House says so; forget the Senate & the President. It's a joke your 5th-grade can probably explain.

The Hill: "President Obama pressed Senate and House leaders Saturday on crafting a spending deal, the White House said, making phone calls in which Obama said 'progress' was being made in the talks while still stating opposition to GOP policy riders. Obama’s used calls to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to emphasize his view that a shutdown would harm the economy...."

New York Times: "Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital [of Kandahar], flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks. Nine people were killed and 81 injured in the disturbances, all from bullet wounds, according to Abdul Qayoum Pakhla, head of the provincial health department. One of the dead was a police officer.... The protests here came a day after a mob overran the headquarters of the United Nations in Mazar-i-Sharif Friday, killing 12 persons, seven of them international staff. The mob gathered after three mullahs at Friday Prayer urged action in response to the Koran burning by a pastor, Terry Jones, in Florida on March 20." ...

... Washington Post: "Taliban fighters attacked the gate of a large NATO military base on the outskirts of Kabul on Saturday morning but failed to do serious damage or breach the compound walls."

New York Times: "Highly radioactive water is leaking directly into the sea from a damaged pit near a crippled reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, safety officials said Saturday, the latest setback in the increasingly messy bid to regain control of the reactors." ...

     ... CNN Update: "A first attempt to plug a cracked concrete shaft that is leaking highly radioactive water into the ocean off Japan failed Saturday, so officials are now exploring alternatives, spokesmen for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said." With video.

The Commentariat -- April 1

Our American Monarch ...

... ** Susan Crabtree of TPM: "The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon.... The War Powers Act of 1973 ... puts limits on the ability of the President to send American troops into combat areas without congressional approval. Under the act, the President can only send combat troops into battle or into areas where 'imminent' hostilities are likely, for 60 days without either a declaration of war by Congress or a specific congressional mandate. The President can extend the time the troops are in the combat area for 30 extra days, without Congressional approval, for a total of 90 days.... The act does not specifically say what Congress could do if the President turns a blind eye to Congress and refuses to have his role as commander-in-chief constrained, as Presidents have routinely done...." ...

... Adam Serwer of American Prospect: "This is really alarming.... There's no other way to describe this other than lawless." Serwer titles his post "Shades of John Yoo." ...

... ** Glenn Greenwald explains, in detail, how the Obama administration has totally embraced Yoo's infamous 2001 memo establishing Bush's war powers doctrine. Yoo is so happy about it he penned an approving op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (CW: which I purposely chose not to link yesterday, but you can get it via Greenwald). Greenwald takes the Obama position back further -- to the Iran-Contra affair when then-Rep. Dick Cheney argued -- preposterously -- that it was "'unconstitutional for Congress to pass laws intruding' on the 'commander in chief.'" But Greenwald goes all the way back to Alexander Hamilton, "the founder most enthusiastic of executive power," who wrote that

[The Commander-in-Chief power] would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first general and admiral of the confederacy: while that of the British king extends to the declaring of war, and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies; all which, by the constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.

What's Wrong with This Picture? ...

Lloyd Blankfein. Bloomberg News photo.... Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, received $19 million in compensation for 2010, including his first cash bonus since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a regulatory filing from the firm late Friday. His 2010 payday includes a $5.4 million cash bonus and other previously reported awards including $12.6 million in restricted stock, $600,000 salary and $464,067 in other benefits. Mr. Blankfein received $9.8 million a year earlier; all but $800,000 of that amount came in restricted stock." ...

... NOW compare that story with this one from Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "... many of the jobs being added [to the U.S. economy] in retail, hospitality and home health care, to name a few categories, are unlikely to pay enough for workers to cover the cost of fundamentals like housing, utilities, food, health care, transportation and, in the case of working parents, child care.... The study, commissioned by Wider Opportunities for Women, a nonprofit group, builds on an analysis ... [of] how much income it takes to meet basic needs without relying on public subsidies."

Karen Garcia: "... when the president was awarded a prize for White House 'transparency' on Monday by a coalition of open government advocates, it was done in secrecy, without notifying the press.  The president was honored for his so-called honesty behind closed doors, without so much as an MSNBC stenographer-journalist to record the event."

"Dope & Glory." Tim Egan writes a post I hate contrasting obvious doper all-around creep Barry Bonds with spunky sports underdogs. But you sports fans might like to read Egan, so here's a link. My comment may appear somewhere down the page. Or not.

New York Times writer Mike McIntire doesn't explicitly say so, but this article might be titled "How Big Business is Snookering Tea Party Naifs into Backing its Agenda."

Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy: "As Congress struggles to negotiate a budget deal..., the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) told lawmakers Wednesday that the GOP version of the budget bill would result in the deaths of at least 70,000 children who depend on American food and health assistance around the world." ...

... Next, Kill All the Poor People -- in This Country. Jonathan Allen of Politico: "House Republicans are planning to cut roughly $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, as part of their fiscal 2012 budget, which they will unveil early next month, according to several GOP sources." CW: this is an easy one for the GOP because poor people -- who depend on Medicaid -- have no political clout. The plan is more smoke-and mirrors, of course. It will ultimately cost middle-class Americans because cutting Medicaid will drive up health insurance costs as hospitals pass on the costs of treating critically-ill indigents, patients whose illnesses -- if treated earlier -- would have been less costly to control. As our old friend former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) famously characterized the Republican healthcare policy: (1) Don't get sick; (2) If you do, die quickly. Nothing has changed.

Jeanne Cummings of Politico: "Many cops and firefighters have thrown their allegiance to the GOP for years – union members who frequently stray from labor’s longtime support for Democrats. A host of new Republican governors is changing all that. It’s a political shift that could have significant repercussions.... Chuck Canterbury, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police ... is traveling the country to rally FOP members to rise up against anti-labor laws in their states or in support of their colleagues in other states.”

New York Times Editors: "Even by Washington’s low standards, the House’s Republican freshmen are turning pandering into a high art. At a recent transportation hearing in his home district, Representative James Lankford of Oklahoma heaped praise on a panel of private sector witnesses. Three of the four executives so publicly favored were later discovered to be donors to Mr. Lankford’s campaign.... Ordinary voters may be making a show of demanding real political change, but they are being increasingly outbid at the big money table where American politics happens."

... many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us, including housing and heating assistance. Likewise, some of the proposed cuts would be economically counterproductive, negatively impacting our ability to innovate and invest in research and development. -- Sen. Scott Brown

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has so lost his Right Wing World creds. Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "While some Senate Republicans are tacking right on the budget, Sen. Scott Brown is attacking proposed cuts coming from members of his own party as 'irresponsible' and urging both sides of the aisle to come together on a bipartisan deal."

Right Wing World *

You Can't Top This. David Barton is an American evangelical Christian minister, political activist, Christian revisionist historian (the U.S. is a Christian nation) & founder of the group WallBuilders. He is roundly criticized by real historians who deal in facts. But potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who apparently thinks there is only one amendment to the Constitution (the Second), says he wishes that "all Americans would be forced, at gunpoint no less, to listen to every David Barton message." Thanks to Right Wing Watch for posting the video & to reader Bonnie for calling it to my attention:

Paul Krugman: Republicans have embraced a new report which "argues that slashing government spending and employment in the face of a deeply depressed economy would actually create jobs." The comments section is here. ...

...  AND Krugman: a la Greenspan, use "with notably rare exceptions" in a sentence.

The Art of the Deal, How to Merge Conspiracy Theories. He may have one, but there's something on that birth certificate -- maybe religion. Maybe it says he's a Muslim. I don't know.
-- Donald Trump, on President Obama's birth certificate

Teabaggers at the Trough. This is something Think Progress & others have been covering for months, but let's give the MSM credit for finally catching up -- way after the election, of course:

     ... The print story is here.

Well, you know, it's never that easy to remove people from power -- even, you know, in Serbia and in Iraq we found that bombing alone didn't do it. Actually, ground troops had to go in and do it. There are many here in Washington now advocating ground troops. I think it's a slippery slope and it could it engage us in a third war. -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: history may teach, but only if you have some idea of what the history is. Paul, apparently, does not.

David Neiwert of Crooks & Liars reports on the "big important Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill ... of about 200 people." With fabulous Fox "News" video coverage. Neiwert remarks on the "strangely mixed message. The Tea Partiers wanted to blame the Democrats for shutting down the government -- while simultaneously demanding a shutdown!" It's a fine post.

Why do so-called reporters parrot Right Wing World talking points without doing any actual reporting? Greg Sargent: "CNN reporter Joe Johns last night credulously repeated an accusation by GOP Rep. Sean Duffy’s camp that Talking Points Memo posted a selectively edited video in which Duffy claimed to be having a tough time getting by on a Congressman’s $174,000 annual salary.... In fact, TPM originally posted the full video, but it was only pulled down after the Wisconsin GOP demanded it be yanked, and TPM’s original reporting specifically mentioned Duffy’s openness to the pay cut.... What’s perverse is that Johns was willing to amplify serious accusations of selective editing by TPM ... apparently without making any cursory effort to check out what happened, despite TPM’s well-respected journalistic track record. Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets too frequently give the benefit of the doubt to video 'revelations' from right-wing pseudo journalist/activists with known records of deception."

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

** Wisconsin State Journal: "UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on Friday released some of the emails requested of a history professor [William Cronon] by the state Republican Party but said she is withholding others that 'fall within the orbit of academic freedom.'" Here's a response from Prof. Cronon, which includes copies of the texts of Chancellor Martin's letter & of the University attorney's letter to the GOP. ...

... La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune: "La Crosse area Democrats say they will file petitions today with enough signatures to trigger a recall election of Sen. Dan Kapanke, one of eight Senate Republicans targeted over votes to curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers. If approved, it would be just the fifth recall election of a Wisconsin legislator. Recall organizer Pat Scheller said volunteers have gathered more than the 15,588 signatures needed and that they plan to take them to Madison after a noon rally today at La Crosse City Hall."

Reuters: "Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday accused the AARP of gaining financially from President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, which the influential elderly advocacy group supported."

New York Times: "Stirred up by a trio of angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at Florida church, thousands of protesters overran the compound of the United Nations in [Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan]..., killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said. The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — five Nepalese guards and two Europeans, one of them a woman." ...

... New York Times: "The incident that so enraged Afghans, the burning of a Koran after a mock trial in a small Florida church on March 20, was barely noticed in the United States but widely reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The presidents of both countries have called on the United States to arrest Terry Jones, the pastor of the church."

New York Times: "The United States economy added 216,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported Friday, adding to hopes that hiring was finally on a steadier track despite concerns about overseas turmoil. The gain in jobs slightly exceeded economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate continued to decline, to 8.8 percent. Quite a few signs have pointed to this economic recovery finally gaining some momentum."

Washington Post: "The Obama administration proposed rules Thursday for using the influential Medicare program to spur a controversial form of managed care emerging around the country that nudges doctors and hospitals to save money by coordinating treatment for their patients. The rules are designed to carry out the first broad changes in the delivery of care under the year-old federal law intended to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. The proposal lays out a path for hospitals, doctors and other care providers to form teams called accountable care organizations (ACOs) that can become responsible for all the medical needs of a group of older Americans on Medicare."

Ben Bernanke now must finally understand that this money doesn’t belong to the Federal Reserve, it belongs to the American people and the American people have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being put at risk. -- Senator Bernard Sanders

Bloomberg News: "A Supreme Court order that forces unprecedented disclosures from the Federal Reserve ended a two-year legal battle that helped shape the public’s perceptions of the U.S. central bank. The high court yesterday let stand a lower-court ruling compelling the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed money at the so-called discount window during the credit crisis. The records were requested by Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. In July, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank law, which mandated the release of other Fed bailout details."

New York Times: "A senior aide to one of Col Muammar el-Qaddafi’s sons has held secret talks in London with British authorities, a friend of the aide said on Friday, adding to the confusion and anxiety swirling around the Tripoli regime after the defection of a high-ranking minister and the departure of another senior figure to Cairo." Here's the Guardian story, which I linked late last night under yesterday's ledes. ...

... AP: "A Libyan opposition leader says the rebels will accept a U.N.-demanded cease-fire if Moammar Gadhafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil spoke Friday during a joint press conference with U.N. envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib. Al-Khatib is visiting the rebels' de-facto stronghold of Benghazi in hopes of reaching a cease-fire and political solution to the crisis embroiling the North African nation."

AP: "Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have packed a main square in the capital and are on the march elsewhere across the nation, demanding the country's ruler of 32 years step down. Many mosques in Sanaa have shut down as clerics and worshippers stream to the square to join the protests. The opposition is striving to have a million people on the streets on Friday to press for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster."

New York Times: "Syria braced for renewed antigovernment demonstrations on Friday despite the government announcement a day before of new measures seemingly aimed at addressing the protesters’ demands."

New York Times: "The end of the Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo‘s rule appeared to be nearing on Friday as his rival’s troops pressed into the country’s main city of Abidjan, his own army chief of staff abandoned his post and his opponents claimed substantial defections of his troops and police officers."

New York Times: "Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange on Friday made a hostile play for NYSE Euronext, offering $42.50 in cash and stock — in a deal that is valued at $11.3 billion. The joint proposal by the two exchanges bests the Deutsche Boerse offer by 19 percent and represents a 27 percent premium to the NYSE’s stock price before that initial deal was originally announced back in early February." Here's the Bloomberg story.

The Commentariat -- March 31

GOP Attacks AARP. Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: with the issue of a report yesterday and with hearings scheduled for tomorrow, "House Republicans, who are continuing their efforts to chip away at President Obama’s health-care law, have now set their sights on a powerful group that strongly supported the legislation: the AARP seniors lobby.... The lawmakers ... also said they have asked the IRS to examine the group’s tax-exempt status."

Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post: "Military leaders and President Obama’s civilian advisers are girding for battle over the size and pace of the planned pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer, with the military seeking to limit a reduction in combat forces and the White House pressing for a withdrawal substantial enough to placate a war-weary electorate."

Here's President Obama's full speech on energy security, delivered yesterday at Georgetown University:

     ... Here's the transcript of the speech, as delivered.

** William Cohan of the New York Times: "... for all its bluster and heft, the July 2010, 2,200-page Dodd-Frank law, which purports to force Wall Street to change its bad behavior, has of course done nothing even remotely close to that and merely reinforced the longstanding cozy relationships.... And because of the demise of firms like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and Washington Mutual, competition among the survivors is much diminished, to their delight.... The so-called 'junk bond' market has rallied to levels not found since the height of the previous bubble in 2005 and 2006.... Bonus payments in 2010 hovered close to $150 billion, more evidence of how completely out of whack Wall Street pay continues to be."

Glenn Greenwald: "... the war in Libya ... has unquestionably departed far from the claims that were made about it in the beginning. The no-fly zone was established long ago; the focus is now on attacking Gadaffi's ground forces, enabling rebel advancements, and regime change. Despite claims about Arab League and French leadership, the U.S. has provided the overwhelming bulk of bombs, jet fighters, intelligence and other resources." ...

The Libya Connections ...

... So There's This News Report from crack investigative reporter Mark Hosenball, now of Reuters, that "within the last two or three weeks ... President Barack Obama ... signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. ...

... AND This News Report from Mark Mazzetti & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times that the CIA "has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels...." ...

... AND This News Report from Chris Adams of McClatchy News: "The new leader of Libya's opposition military spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled — even in his late-60s — to return to the battlefield in his homeland, according to people who know him. Khalifa Hifter was once a top military officer for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but after a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s, Hifter switched to the anti-Gadhafi opposition. In the early 1990s, he moved to suburban Virginia, where he established a life but maintained ties to anti-Gadhafi groups." ...

... ALL of Which Causes David Dayan of Firedoglake to wonder if President Obama's secret order "has anything to do with the Libyan expat resident of Northern Virginia, 10 miles from Langley, showing up in Benghazi to command the rebel army." CW: I'd say a ten-mile commute to the office was pretty standard.

Four New York Times journalists who were captured, imprisoned & beaten in Libya, discuss the situation there:

Nicholas Kristof says "Egypt is a mess," which is what we should expect. Comments are here.

Having flunked Budget Negotiations 101 this year, Hill Democrats plan to bone up on their negotiating skills & introduce tax hikes for the rich for the FY 2012 budget. Why, they say even the President might back them. Alexander Bolton of The Hill reports.

What to Do? What to Do? Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: polls show that the tea party is becoming unpopular among Americans. "With the tea party coming to Washington for a major rally on Thursday, Republicans leaders will come face to face with the tough decision before them. Side with the tea party and risk tying yourself to a group that is not broadly popular with the public. Go against them and risk alienating the most active and passionate members of the party’s base, the men and women most responsible for helping deliver the GOP across-the-board gains in 2010."

Dahlia Lithwick skewers right-wing Supremes: "... judging from [Monday] morning's argument in McComish v. Bennett, there is no principle those five justices will fight harder to preserve than the right of the impossibly wealthy to purchase as much speech as they want and need to win a political campaign. The free speech issue in McComish is a swirly one, predicated on the novel constitutional theory that less speech makes us all freer." Lithwick reprises the justice's questions/arguments as to why "leveling the playing field" so that candidates without billionaire backers can be heard, too, is a terrible thing to do.

Marc Lacey of the New York Times: "... several of [Rep. Gabrielle] Giffords’s [D-Ariz.] longtime aides are whispering behind the scenes that she just might recover in time to run for the seat that Senator Jon Kyl, a Republican, is vacating next year. While it might be wishful thinking, Ms. Giffords’s noncampaign is already having a major effect on Arizona politics; other prospective Democratic candidates say they feel compelled not to jump in unless she bows out, allowing Republicans to get a head start organizing their campaigns."

Michelle Goldberg in the Daily Beast: "On Tuesday, a billboard went up on the South Side of Chicago featuring Barack Obama’s face, drawn in a crude approximation of Shepard Fairey’s iconic image, next to the words “Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.” The group behind the ad, Texas’ Life Always, has promised to unveil 30 more such signs in the president’s hometown. It’s just the latest attempt by the antiabortion movement to wrap itself in the cloak of the civil-rights struggle."

Carol Rosenberg of McClatchy News: "The Bush administration was so intent on keeping Guantanamo detainees off U.S. soil and away from U.S. courts that it secretly tried to negotiate deals with Latin American countries to provide 'life-saving' medical procedures rather than fly ill terrorist suspects to the U.S. for treatment, a recently released State Department cable shows.... The secret effort is spelled out in a Sept. 17, 2007, cable from then assistant secretary of state Thomas Shannon to the U.S. embassies in those four countries. Shannon is now the U.S. ambassador in Brazil.... The cable, which was posted on the WikiLeaks website March 14, draws back the curtain on contingency planning at Guantanamo, but also contradicts something the prison camp's hospital staff has been telling visitors for years — that the U.S. can dispatch any specialist necessary to make sure the captives in Cuba get first-class treatment."

Emi Kolawole of the Washington Post: "P. J. Crowley, the now-ex State Department spokesman who resigned after he called the treatment of alleged WikiLeaks source, Pfc. Bradley Manning, 'ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid,' is speaking out.... In an interview with the BBC’s HardTalk, Crowley said he had 'no regrets' regarding his remarks, and that Manning’s treatment was detrimental to the United States." BBC print story & video here. ...

... In a Guardian op-ed, Crowley explains why he called the treatment of Manning "stupid": "I stand by what I said. The United States should set the global standard for treatment of its citizens -- and then exceed it. It is what the world expects of us. It is what we should expect of ourselves."

Right Wing World *

Media Matters is still leaning on Bill Sammon:

Lawrence O'Donnell goes off on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor whose lack of knowledge of "how a bill becomes a law" demonstrates that he couldn't pass a citizenship exam or even a grade-school test:

... Here's a Washington Post item by Felicia Sonmez on Cantor's lamebrained remarks.

AND, while he's at it, O'Donnell takes on Sen. Rand Paul & makes a point that slipped my notice: the Senate passed a resolution by unanimous consent approving imposition of the no-fly zone over Libya. "Thanks, Senator; now we know what you look like when you're lying." Thanks to Jeanne B.:

Gail Collins' column was funny, as usual; I'm linking it here as a public service & not because it approaches a must-read. Her topic: "the fight over federal regulation of light bulb efficiency.... Michele Bachmann ... is the author of the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal a federal requirement that the typical 100-watt bulb become 25 percent more energy efficient by 2012. Bachmann hateshateshates that sort of thing, as you would expect from a woman whose Earth Day speech in 2009 was an ode to carbon dioxide. ('It’s a part of the regular life cycle of the earth.')" Comments are here.

Dave Weigel in Slate: "For what it's worth, the DOJ's Office of Professional Conduct's report on the unending New Black Panther Party affair -- the charge that the Civil Rights Division failed to pursue more charges against two members of the hate group who held nightsticks outside a mostly-black polling place on Election Day 2008 -- clears the DOJ of any wrongdoing, and clears the Obama administration of any wrongdoing. A day after this came out, I can't detect any mellowing-out from the people who pushed for the investigation." [Emphasis added.]

Finally, Jon Stewart looks at how Republican candidates for President are appealing to "the broadest swath of narrow people." Play through to the second segment which covers Santorum, Barbour & Trump:

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

Guardian: "Colonel Gaddafi's regime has sent one of its most trusted envoys to London for confidential talks with British officials.... Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, visited London in recent days.... The contacts with Ismail are believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight, amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy." ...

... New York Times: "President Obama’s top two national security officials signaled on Thursday that the United States was unlikely to arm the Libyan rebels, raising the possibility that the French alone among the Western allies would provide weapons and training for the poorly organized forces fighting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s government." ...

... New York Times: "Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to senior military and government officials." ...

... New York Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a Congressional panel that he strongly opposed putting any American forces in Libya. Asked if there would be American 'boots on the ground' — that is, uniformed members of the military — Mr. Gates swiftly replied, 'Not as long as I’m in this job.' At the same time, Mr. Gates declined to address reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has sent clandestine operatives to Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the rebels. Mr. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced tough questions on Thursday from members of Congress who are angry about the administration’s push into Libya and deeply skeptical about President Obama’s plans to end the conflict." ...

... AP: "Libya conceded Thursday that Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa had resigned but claimed that it was a personal decision driven by health problems, not a sign that the embattled regime is cracking at the highest levels.... Despite the setbacks and ongoing airstrikes — now led by NATO — Gadhafi loyalists have retaken much of the territory the rebels had captured since airstrikes began March 19. The latest fighting centered on Brega, a town important to Libya's oil industry on the coastal road that leads to Tripoli. It has gone back and forth between rebel and loyalist hands, and on Thursday it was a no-man's land, with Gadhafi's forces at the western gate and rebels east of the city." ...

... New York Times: former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa reportedly "is voluntarily talking to British officials, including members of the British Embassy in Tripoli now based in London, and our ambassador. Also, "... in another sign that the cracks in the Libyan government may be widening, a second top Libyan official, Ali Abdussalam el-Treki, defected Thursday to Egypt. In decades of service, Mr. Treki had served as both foreign minister and United Nations representative."

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "A state law to sharply curb union bargaining by public employees is not in effect, a Dane County judge ruled Thursday.... Gov. Scott Walker's administration said it would comply with the order by halting its implementation of the law."

New York Times: "The speaker of the House, John A. Boehner [R-Ohio]..., said Thursday that there was not yet any budget deal for the rest of the year.... Facing pressure from conservatives in his ranks not to compromise –- and a Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill on Thursday intended to send the same message -– Mr. Boehner disputed Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s assertion Wednesday night that the White House, Senate Democrats and House Republicans had effectively settled on budget cuts for this fiscal year of about $33 billion."

New York Times: "Microsoft plans to file a formal antitrust complaint on Thursday in Brussels against Google, its first against another company. Microsoft hopes that the action may prod officials in Europe to take action and that the evidence gathered may also lead officials in the United States to do the same. In Europe, Microsoft is joining a chorus of complaints, but until now they have come mainly from small Internet companies saying that Google’s search engine unfairly promotes its own products, like Google Product Search, a price comparison site, over rival offerings."

AP: "A letter bomb has exploded at an office of the Swiss nuclear power industry in the northern city of Olten, injuring two people...."