Why is this not getting more attention. Comcast in Tuscon accidently played 30 seconds of porn on NBC during the Super Bowl last night.

Oh, c'mon Danp. Like anyone in Arizona was watching the Superbowl.

Actually, it was probably better they saw the porn than all of the missed holds, blocks in the backs, and since when does a personal foul on fourth down not result in an automatic first down?

Sigh. The officiating was awful.

The officiating was awful. - doubtful

Pitiful. That last fumble looked like a forward pass to me. Ironically, I was rooting for AZ because I was a Pittsburgh Panthers fan when Fitzgerald played there.

That said, I got a kick that some people assumed they were watching a commercial. "No, ma'am, that wasn't a beer bottle."

* Pajamas Media seems to be having some financial trouble and has shut down its ad network. -- Steve Benen

They're in financial trouble because they had to pay Joe-not-a-plumber for his opinion-gathering trip to Israel. He still wants his own business and, with the crippling taxes Obama will impose on him, he cannot afford to be a cheap date, not even for PJ "media".

Too many items in the Mini-Report. By the time I got to the end I forgot what was at the start.

The optics of the BOA Super Bowl carnival suck, but I wonder how long ago this was planned. If the planning predates the election--and it wouldn't surprise me if it did; this sort of thing frequently gets planned and budgeted six months or more in advance--it's very likely that there were contractual obligations that made it expensive or impossible to cancel.

Don't get me wrong, I loathe BOA only slightly less than I loathe WaMu, but this one doesn't get me up in arms the way the bonus payouts did.

I'm still confused about Daschle. The only way he could have not been "caught" cheating on his taxes is for his employer to not report the income to the IRS.

Since employers are usually considered more knowledgeable about which of their expenses constitute wages (since they have to deduct FICA), you would expect that Daschle's employer made a mistake.

Of course, Daschle got paid in such a way that he was responsible for taxes. In this case, the payee is required to obtain a certification from the individual that they payments don't have to be reported to the IRS. This written certification is required, if it doesn't exist, the payee is in trouble. If it does exist, and Daschle didn't pay, then Daschle committed a crime, not an oversight.

So far it sounds like the payee/employer is more at fault here.

The only way for the Obama administration to make Republicans happy is to resign.

I wish I understood the thinking on all these offers for tax cuts. The Republicans are using the same strategy they used on Clinton. Does Obama really think that by saying please the Republican Senators will play along? Do the Democrats realize who won the election?

* Pajamas Media seems to be having some financial trouble and has shut down its ad network.

Does this mean that "Joe the Plumber" is stranded in Israel? Can we ship them Sarah Palin too?

The optics of the BOA Super Bowl carnival suck, but I wonder how long ago this was planned.

Slightly off-topic, but I once worked in the accounting department of a dot.com in the 90's and the sales guys decided to get a skybox at the Superbowl while the accounting department wouldn't approve it or the other related expenses. And all the while we thought we were working to get it stopped, they were relabeling what the money was for, hoping we'd approve of the expense if it was called something different.

And yes, the problem was that we were locked into the contract and couldn't get out. And so while the bowl people were more than happy to make the invoices look different, they wouldn't actually give us our money back. Needless to say, the sales guys got their Superbowl vacation. Equally needless to say, the last I heard of that company, they were shedding jobs like crazy after the internet bubble burst. I don't think they got any more Superbowl boxes.

Do the Democrats realize who won the election?

No, Jen F, they don't. They think McCain won and are wondering why nobody's kicked them out of the Whitehouse yet.

This was another edition of sarcastic answers to silly questions. Seriously though, why can't you people at least acknowledge that Obama has a plan? Disagree with the plan all you want, but stop pretending it doesn't exist. We even keep explaining the plan repeatedly, yet are dismissed as koolaid drinking hacks for suggesting it exists. Without a doubt, Obama's critics just sound like they resent the very concept of strategy and imagine it's a form of capitulation to not take everything we want by force. I'll take strategy, thanks.

The unspoken cost of Obama: loss of great local leaders.

I just heard that Ron Simms, King County Washington's top official, is joining the Obama Admin as No. 2 at HUD.

Damn! King Co. is bigger than many states and we have to deal with multi-county issues like New York City. I'll miss him, he reminds me a lot of Obama: competent and looking for something that works.

regarding CNBC's on-air talent is looking out for "fat cats": Watch FAST MONEY, and see the anchor and at least two of his four panelists EVERY DAY talk up the idea of "Clawbacks" and advocate zeroing out the shareholder & management of Citi & BofA. They bewail Obama/Geithner's failure even to consider these ideas!

Just a wee bit off topic, but Holder's in.

The renditions of Republicans to the Arctic ice sheet can begin in earnest now....

Just a wee bit off topic, but Holder's in. -- Steve W, @20:13

Not only is he in, but in with an almost spectacular bipartisanship: 75:21. Almost makes me leery (if so many Repubs voted for him, there has to be something wrong with him, no?).

On to Solis. I don't like Geithner and I don't like Daschle any more, but I still want Solis.

"but Holder's in."

oooooo. let the prosecutions begin.....

Danp--I too watched Fitzgerald excel at the University of Pittsburgh--but rooted for the Steelers,
of course.
It was a SUPerb super bowl.
Comcast really does suck--they supported the dubious republican cause for years now, and censored our email: widely known out east for these factoids--telling recipients the emails would create a virus, etc. Really right winger policies. How ironic they'd present porn...

Holder's in. Stimulus must pass so states can deal with MH/MR programs and those for the poor

The Gregg confirmation is confirmed for Tuesday. Here's hoping he at least paid his taxes. :|

Can we tell the Krugman's of the world to f**k themselves?

I think I agree with this Krugman dude, but he just will not explain why, exactly, I should agree with him.

Somehow I think that the bad guys thrive on this gray area of what is explainable.

Old news now, but CNN reported 47 minutes ago that Gregg accepted the Commerce Sec. post.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/judd.gregg.commerce/

The vote for Holder was 75-21, with all "nay" votes the Republican Obstructionist Bloc.

From Down With Tyranny:

In the 75-21 confirmation vote the hard-line Obstructionist Caucus has now crystallized. The leader, of course, is Jim DeMint (R-SC) and his followers, the serial obstructionists at the bottom of the GOP barrel are Jim Bunning (R-KY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Tom Coburn (R-OK), David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), James Risch (R-ID), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Ensign (R-NV), John Thune (R-SD), and John Barrasso (R-WY). The Associated Press naively summarized the vote like this: "A small group of Republicans said they opposed Holder. They argued he was hostile to gun control and doesn't fully support the war on terrorism."

Jen,

Nancy Pelosi seems to realize that she has control of the House. That's why the repigs were crying like the punks they are.

Never mind just don't question Obama, he has a plan and it will all work out.

Mitch garnered 21 votes against Holder - Mitch is rapidly becoming a version a character from the old cartoon "Crock" - The Leader of the Lost Patrol - Kept going in circles and missing the Fort.

Ron Sims is a fine man - I remember when he ran for the Senate against Slade Gorton - Gorton, who lived in a tony neighborhood of Seattle and wore Brooks Brothers, donned Pendletons and chinos and campaigned in the very white rural areas - Railed against the big bullies of Seattle - Very subtle message about Sims being an African-American. As soon as Slade won, he became very "Brooksie" again. Thank you, Senator Cantwell for retiring Slade.

The vote for Holder was 75-21, with all "nay" votes the Republican Obstructionist Bloc. -- Keori, @22:46

"Republican Obstructionist Bloc"? ROB? I think you meant "Limbaugh's Limbo Lemmings" (LLL)

Good: "Rep. Barney Frank plans to call the heads of major bailed-out banks to testify before his committee next week."

Oh, great! A replay of the Pecora investigations 75 years ago. For those with short memories or perhaps not so up on their populist history:

From Wikipedia:

The Pecora Commission is the name commonly used to describe the commission established on March 4, 1932, by the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to investigate the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The name refers to the fourth and final Chief Counsel to the committee, Ferdinand Pecora.

Created by a majority-Republican Senate, its first Chairman was Republican Senator Peter Norbeck. Hearings began on April 11, 1932, but were criticized by Democratic Party members and their supporters as being little more than an attempt by the Republicans to appease the growing demands of an angry American public suffering through the Great Depression. Following the November 1932 election in which Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President and Democrats gained majority control of the U.S. Senate, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher chaired the Committee. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the Commission's first two counsels were fired and a third resigned after the committee refused to give him broad subpoena powers. Ferdinand Pecora, an assistant district attorney for New York County, discovered, upon taking the committee counsel position, that the investigation was incomplete.

Following the Wall Street Crash, the U.S. economy had gone into a depression, and a large number of banks failed. The Pecora Commission initiated major reform of the American financial system. As Chief Counsel, Ferdinand Pecora personally examined many high-profile witnesses that included some of the nation's most influential bankers and stockbrokers. As the Commission's first witness, Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange, declared that "The Exchange's refusal to pay heed to popular demand for reform was simply a manifestation of courage to do those things which are right, regardless of how unpopular they may be for the time being." Other important members of the Wall Street financial community to give testimony before the Commission included investment bankers Otto H. Kahn, Charles E. Mitchell, Thomas W. Lamont, and Albert H. Wiggin, plus celebrated commodity market speculators such as Arthur W. Cutten. Given wide media coverage, the testimony of the powerful banker J.P. Morgan, Jr. caused a public outcry after he admitted under examination that he and many of his partners had not paid any income taxes in 1931 and 1932.

As reiterated by SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt during his 1995 testimony before the United States House of Representatives, the Pecora Commission uncovered a wide range of abusive practices on the part of banks and bank affiliates. These included a variety of conflicts of interest such as the underwriting of unsound securities in order to pay off bad bank loans as well as "pool operations" to support the price of bank stocks. The hearings galvanized broad public support for new securities laws. As a result of the Pecora Commission's findings, the United States Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, instituting disclosure laws for corporations seeking public financing, and in 1935 formed the SEC as a means to enforce the new Acts.

Missed this very important point about Ferdinand Pecora:

In 1939 Ferdinand Pecora published his memoirs that recounted details of the investigations. Titled "Wall Street Under Oath", Pecora wrote: "Bitterly hostile was Wall Street to the enactment of the regulatory legislation." As to disclosure rules, he stated that "Had there been full disclosure of what was being done in furtherance of these schemes, they could not long have survived the fierce light of publicity and criticism. Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies."

steve: Another Abramoff associate is headed to jail. How many is that now?

at least 15...all republicans..

steve: Howard Kurtz thinks Dick Armey should face consequences for his on-air misogyny.

typical gop tactic...

when beaten on an issue...

tell the person who just beat you..

why you wouldn't marry them...

it would have been fun to see armey lose an argument to a man...