* A new threat to the lives of U.S. troops is ... poorly installed electrical wiring by Halliburton?

This is NOT a new threat, my BiL told me about this a couple of years ago.

I'm sure it will somehow be Obama's fault.

Feinstein is conservative, we keep telling you that.

Ugh. The wiring thing is just scary. And I thought our building's wiring was bad.

"UPS is dropping its sponsorship of Bill O'Reilly. I'm inclined to reward good behavior."

Good. But FYI, "The UPS Store" is major advertiser on Glenn Beck's television and radio program.

Before moving to Los Angeles, I used to live in Moorhead, MN, next to Fargo in the red river valley. This is a good example of what they are battling right now:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/red_river_flooding.html

Bad wiring is a significant threat, and indefensible from a licensed contractor. I have supervised a lot of contractors, and in any circumstance not rife with corruption this would have been repaired long since. A contract manager free to do his/her job would have insisted on correction, and a contractor who wanted to ever work again and stay out of court (where a suit on a matter like this would be a slam dunk) would have rushed to make it right. OK, the Bush Administration was rife with corruption, but presumably that is now changed and real managers are in charge. Haliburton should understand it faces consequences, and surely it does. Why is there still talk of hiring them to fix this? Why is there any question about compensation?

The joke is there is no one left to form a union unless it is government subsidised or government it self. Union jobs left this country a long time ago.Your elected representatives have sold you out.
Funny the death merchants have unions. The military/industrial complex is generaly unionized.The problem is your tax dollars support this.I see no difference between the parties. They all sell there souls for money.

* A new threat to the lives of U.S. troops is ... poorly installed electrical wiring by Halliburton? -- Benen

Not a new threat, just one which had been, kinda, under the radar. You'd see a case mentioned (I've seen it in NYT), once in a while, but not often.

The new threat is the recent pact between cousin-Talibans in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They've got new, young leaders, they're training together, they're getting all ready for the extra thousands that Obamas planning to send there. It's gonna be I-wreck, all over again...

Well, since it's an open thread, anyone remember Bush's big girl Debra Kagan? Quote: "I hate all Iranians." I think she puts Ann Coulter to shame! Check below and Google for um, her ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-484762/I-hate-Iranians-US-aide-tells-MPs.html

She looks like a refugee from "Sprockets." Note that Maltese cross pendant. It's so easy (?) to forget, just how kooky the Bush people and years were ...

Sorry, that's Debra Cagan. Here's what's scary: She was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. - he's still in. Well, Bush likely pushed her into the mix but it still makes me belch.

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), for reasons I can't understand, may oppose EFCA, too."

It is very understandable why Feinstein will oppose EFCA. She is corporately owned and her only allegiance is to herself.

Consumer spending went up in February?

According to the article you linked, real consumer spending declined by 0.2%:

Spending rose 0.2 percent, reflecting continuing positive momentum from January. However, the news is less favorable than it appears at first glance, in that when adjusted for inflation, spending actually declined 0.2 percent. That suggests that much of the increase in spending reflected people paying higher bills for gasoline and other fuels, which have been rising from their lows in late 2008.

Sadly ideology trumps reality when it comes to Diane Feinstein.

I remember reading an article back when Feinstein was first running for senate written by a former campaign worker. He wrote that he initially supported Feinstein because she was a woman and was pro-choice. Than he actually heard her speak and was appalled to hear the amount pro-corporate, pro-military stands that she took. He quickly determined that outside of abortion and a couple of other social issues she's basically and republican. He quickly switched his support to her challenger in the primary who in addition to being pro-choice also took progressive positions on the economy and defense issues.

Unforfunately Feinstein's challenger was a man and the former Feinstein supported found himself being ostracized because he did not support a Democratic pro-choice WOMAN. When he tried to point out that the man was also pro-choice and a genuine PROGRESSIVE it was quikcly pointed out that he was not a woman.

Feinstein is protected by her sex. She's a woman and she's pro-choice. That's all that matters to too many vorters.

Feinstein is as red as a senator can be in a blue state. I hope she steps down to run for governor - and then loses that race.

Re haliburton and the poor electrical wiring. Same thing happened at Danang Viet Nam in 1969. The contractor rewired after a minor rocket attack,put 220VAC where only 110VAC was supposed
to go and almost burned down several buildings, and alot of electronic equipment. So this type of thing isn't new.

Jim Phillips

>Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), for reasons I can't understand, may oppose EFCA, too.

Feinstein is as conservative and corrupt as any other Republican. She's surpassed Lieberman on my hate list.

Thanks for the Fargo well wishes. The Red River seems to be everywhere right now, but so are constant encouragement and support.

Rule #1 when wearing a suicide vest: Don't hug anyone goodbye.

RE: North Dakota. Is Obama planning to go to North Dakota this weekend? I haven't heard word one from this administration about it (whether they're speaking about it or not is less the issue than whether or not it is bubbling to the top of MSM coverage).

I mention this only because I think there's a real risk that Republicans will try to frame any real or imagined lack of attention or aid to North Dakota by the administration as "Obama's Katrina". It's not even hard to imagine some nutter from the GOP like Michelle Bachman claiming that "Obama doesn't care about white people". I know that sounds too absurd and petty to be a concern, but come on, they Republicans are literally expending valuable bandwidth to complain about Obama's use of teleprompters. Because that's on anyone's top 100,000 issues facing America at the moment.

Here's hoping we see Obama in or near Fargo this weekend. And where is the national guard? (they're not all in Iraq) If they're there, get some cameras on them.

There shouldn't be an apostrophe in "its prospects" in the item about marriage equality in New Hampshire. Come on.

Love the Ed Henry piece, though.

I did send UPS an 'atta boy' email yesterday, and this morning received a nice acknowledgement back from them. I think they are a bit sensitive to public perception...

Read Glenn Greenwald. Obama isn't distancing himself enough from the coddling of the financial elites. (Example: "Yet another former Goldman Sachs official and long-time derivatives advocate who played a major role in the repeal of key banking regulations, Gary Gesner, is now poised to become Obama's chief of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the body charged with regulating commodities and financial futures.")
Slavish adoration of any Dear Leader is not a good progressive value.

Here's a link to one of GG's best:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/26/comparisions/index.html

Obama Scraps 'Global War on Terror' for 'Overseas Contingency Operation'

So, no more of President Bush's "war on terror". It was a stupid phrase, saying that we had a war against extreme fear. But it was effective, helping to bestow on Bush the status of a wartime president and leading him to claim extraordinary executive powers, such as engaging in illegal wiretapping. And the phrase persevered even as the Iraq invasion devolved into an occupation.

The proposed new phrase, "overseas contingency operation", is not a whole lot better. What contingency, a hurricane? Running out of fuel? A hooker strike in Amsterdam?

Admittedly, it is difficult to find the best words for our current course. If it's described as a war against extremism, or radical Islamists, we may offend the moslem world. And it is not wise to call it a war. We need a word such as the Cold War's "containment" Best I can come up with is "Operation Global Security". But not "securitization".

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), for reasons I can't understand, may oppose EFCA, too.

That's because Difi is not a Democrat and never was. She merely opted for the designation when she first ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 because it's impossible to get elected dogcatcher as a Republican in The City. She rode the death of George Moscone for all it was worth as acting mayor and has advanced herself by talking Democratic, but voting Republican, ever since. Fortunately, I learned my lesson about her way back in 1969 with my only vote for her. She's one of those "Democrats" like Jerry Brown whose presence on the ticket makes me vote for their opponent on the grounds we might as well know obviously who the enemy is.

My wife, who is very progressive, taught at a Catholic High School in SF, when DiFi was on the rise. She can not stand her because of the RepuG leanings of the former Mayor. Incidentally, during that time as Mayor, she broke the cover of the police going after the Night Stalker. She is another Democrat in name only. During our viewing of the excellent "Milk", my wife booed when DiFi was shown on screen. Speaking of "Milk", why didn't Van Sant show the "Nuns", who marched in many of the parades?

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), for reasons I can't understand, may oppose EFCA, too.

Silicon Valley hates it. That's all you need to know.

Behold the 21st century face of the Democratic Party.