This Is Why I Don't Gamble

Boy, was I ever wrong. Ex-MD Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is the RNC's first black chairman. A very bold move indeed. The money quote from RI national committeeman Joe Trillo:

"It's a diverse party. We're tired of being labeled as white supremacists."

Easy Joe. Putting an African-American at the top of the food chain doesn't wave a wand and instantly change decades of racist GOP bullshit. Not when your chair is despised by the black populace. Not when your party engages in massive voter caging, voter suppression, voter caging, etc., specifically targeting the African-American community. You were doing it as recently as 13 weeks ago!

Once again the party of Lincoln proves to be the party of delusion.

Five fun things to know and tell about Steele. Think Progress has much more.

-AF
*Update #1: TPM jogged my memory about the new RNC chief's 2006 attempt to fool Dems re: his party affiliation w/his "Steele Democrats" signs.
**Update #2: Steele is one of only 5 black RNC members out of 146 or just under 3%. Two of the five ran for chairman.

Then There Were Five

Chip Saltsman*, the idjit cracker of the infamous "Barack The Magic Negro" Xmas CD mailer, didn't make the cut for the RNC Chair ballot. Clearly lacking any magic of his own, Chip failed to find the six backers required. Loser.

So who's left? Allow me to have a go at handicapping the race...

1. Current RNC Chairman Mike Duncan. Toast. Invisible and ineffectual (see: 2008 elections here & here).
2. Ex-MD Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. High profile. Couldn’t be worse than Duncan. Dumb as dirt tho' (see: silly contrived "Oreo incident"**). Steele’s only possible chance is if Republicans get crazy & take the “we’re-makin’-our-top-token-black-person-GOP-chair-to-make-like-we’ve-really-changed-even-though-we-haven’t-changed-at-all” route. A super long shot but don't count him out given this narrow field.
   
3. Ken Blackwell’s partisan bona fides are as good as it gets. But Kenny’s Ohio election shenanigans were waaaaaay too high profile. Find me one person who doesn’t deep down think this sucker belongs in prison. One person. And there's that Diebold thang. And the he's black thang (see: Michael Steele). Not a hope in hell. Next.
4. Katon Dawson’s strengths are he’s white, from the South and appears to be baggage-free. Major bonus points for truly impressive outreach to SC’s African-American community. Smells like teen spirit to me.
   
5. Will Saul Anuzis' moniker be enough to trigger widespread RNC nomatophobia? Republicans do have a marked tendency to get afeared of "unusual" names. Anuzis is a 2nd generation immigrant & former Teamster too. Could cause queasiness amongst the RNC's sizeable anti-immigrant/anti-labor Kool-Aid drinkin’ crowd. See-ya Saul.
   

That leaves us Michael Steele and Katon Dawson.

If successful, Steele’s installation would come in the wake of President Obama’s thunderous debut. The first black RNC chief can't look anything but pathetically bandwagonesque. You gotta think right about now committee members, at some subconscious level, can't exactly be predisposed to any black candidate. Bitterness runs deep here.

Pay no mind. This is not the time for two consecutive weak Committee chairs. And Steele is simply not strong enough. It's gonna take a far more powerful contender than he to overcome an RNC rank & file as of yet unready for an African-American head. Say sayonara to Steele.

Smart money’s on Dawson. The dude has the biggest upside. His proven fundraising ability alone could've sealed it. But the clincher is unlike the brothers on the ballot, Dawson has yank with his African-American communities. In fact, both Blackwell (voter suppression) and Steele (laughingstock) set back Republican-black voter relations in OH & MD respectively by years. It speaks volumes about the GOP when their two most prominent African-American politicians are persona non grata in the hood

Dawson, and only Dawson, brings desperately needed street cred with home state African-Americans to the party. The kinda cred that offers the GOP their first, best step towards transforming from the “underhanded tight-ass whitey-only political club” into something slightly less awful.

Stay tuned...

-AF

*Could there be a name whiter than "Saltsman"? What's whiter than "salt"? Seriously.
**Damn, how the late great Steve Gilliard was all over that one.

A Reminder Re: Sen. Holy Jim DeMint (R-SC)

An April 20, 2003 AP story "Fellowship finances townhouse where 6 congressmen live" is unfortunately no longer available on the ‘net.* However, since he's been shooting his mouth off, it seemed a good time to recall Sen. DeMint's (R-SC) unique Washington housing arrangement.

Holy Jimmy DeMint (R-SC) is so righteous he lives in a DC townhouse with 5 other Congress members. It's courtesy of a secretive religious group known as The Family AKA The Fellowship AKA The Fellowship Foundation AKA National Fellowship Council AKA Fellowship House AKA The International Foundation AKA National Committee for Christian Leadership AKA International Christian Leadership AKA the National Leadership Council.

I'm not much of a Christian nor am I a fan of organized religion. My perception is there's at least as many organized worshipers of any given faith up to no good as there are doing good works. So I dunno about you but I find it more than a little hinky that a "Christian" group requires more aliases names than your garden-variety grifter.

It also strikes me as odd that while spending his time in the Capitol, a bible-thumping homophobic Senator chooses to live with 5 other guys instead of his wife. For the uninitiated, it looks kinda gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But what about Senators and Congressmen living rent free through the kindness of this lobbying entity? Because make no mistake about it, that's what The Family is. Under these circumstances i.e. getting a posh rent-free townhouse might make you powerfully inclined to vote in the interests of your "landlord."Surely something is wrong with that.

Nope. Miraculously, Jesus' involvement makes this A-OK. That's messed up. If The Family was a secular group, rather than a secretive religious group hell-bent on influencing Congress, "subsidizing" housing for member of Congress wouldn't only be viewed as inappropriate. It would be illegal.

"The Family" skinny per Sourcewatch.

-AF
*I have this article saved somewhere as a PDF for such an occasion. If I can find it, I'll try to figure out how to post it.

Uncle Ted Hangs By Thread

The NYT:

ANCHORAGE — Convicted of seven felony counts just nine days ago, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska held a narrow lead on Wednesday in his bid for re-election, though the race remained too close to call.

Mr. Stevens, 84 and a 40-year incumbent, led his Democratic challenger, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, by fewer than 3,400 votes with more than 55,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots remaining to be counted. If he wins, Mr. Stevens would be the first felon elected to the United States Senate.

The senator’s campaign said that such late-counted votes traditionally break for Republicans and that it was “almost mathematically impossible” for Mr. Begich to win. But Mr. Begich strongly disputed those claims, noting that his campaign had made a concerted effort to win absentee and early voters and that he had won absentee counts in his elections as mayor.

A final vote count may not come until next week or later.

And even if Mr. Stevens wins, he could still be forced from office.

Stay tuned...

-AF

Go Directly To Jail - Do Not Pass Go

Ole Uncle "Tubes" Ponders Prison

Ted Stevens gets nailed. Convicted of all seven corruption charges, the US Senate's soon-to-be former longest serving Republican is going to jail. The Anchorage Daily News has the local angle. NYT take is here.

Very nice timing given that the election is next week.

-AF

NY Times On Economy: "People Failed"

Don’t Blame the New Deal:

This year’s serial bailouts are proof of a colossal regulatory failure. But it is not “the system” that failed, as President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others who are complicit in the calamity would like Americans to believe. People failed.

For decades now, antiregulation disciples of the Reagan Revolution have eliminated vital laws, blocked the enactment of much-needed new regulations, or simply refused to exercise their legal authority.

Because he refuses take any responsibility for any error, Bush must to blame the "system." If he didn't he'd have to confront the reality that this disaster was set in motion by "Saint" Reagan (R), President Bush, Bush cabinet financial wizards, the GOP's tragically misguided, patently dishonest "trickle down"/laissez-faire bullshit economic philosophy & the Republican Party as a whole.

-AF

McCain Surprise Sabotages Bail Out

John McCain:
Pretty pleased with himself tonite.








Since early yesterday, we been told that a "fundamental agreement" had been reached on the big bail out bill. That is sooo yesterday. That was before John McCain rode into DC and, this time with his House GOP henchmen at his side, tossed a surprise bail out bomb on America. McCain did this just before the bi-partisan Congressional bail out confab with President Bush. (musta delighted our panicked Preznit). The very meeting Johnny planned as his big photo op.

Think Progress has the deets. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D) describes the drama:

All of a sudden there was some new core agreement floating around, which no one had heard of before, until we sort of got to the White House...

...we’re told it came out of the Republican House. We were even told at one point that this was, maybe, John McCain was floating the idea. That Hank Paulson was considering it. And of course Barney Frank and I, along with Republicans from the House and the Senate, of course, had spent three hours this morning working on a different core. We were told for the last seven days this was the core issue that would give the secretary the authority to move, to deal with the crisis.

As Johnny has confessed to know jack-all about economics, it's a sure bet that this "new core agreement" was whipped up by key McCain advisors. A CBS News report that this new plan features more, not less, deregulation seems to confirms my theory.

Obviously, the plan his top lobbyists advisors, didn’t pass the sniff test.

This could be a win-win-win-win-win-win move by Johnny.

McCain gets to say:

1. “As promised, I rushed to America’s rescue.”“The reckless Obama-led Dems want America to continue suffering."
2. “Instead of debating tomorrow, I’m crawling into the corner w/my blankie & my top lobbyists advisors.”
3. “Delay my debate & we hafta delay the VP debate too.” Johnny wants this baaad.
   
4. This one's huge: the McCain camp gets the chance to craft a brand new "core agreement" in which any “compromises” will still be incredibly advantageous to McCain’s Wall St. donors.
   
5. There will be less time and greater pressure on the "do nothing" Dems to make new McCain plan law.

Gee, I thought John McCain was desperate before when he sold his soul to the evangelical nuts the first time. Then crazy Johnny went all drastic pushing himself deeper in bed with these Jesus freaks going so far as to let them pick his running mate. But this shit takes the cake.

Will the media and the voters fall for it?

Stay tuned...

-AF
*Update: McCain sabotage central@HuffPo.
**Update: The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder sez:

Republicans like John Boehner brought up the concerns of House GOPers and McCain acknowledged hearing about their concerns. McCain, and staffers, did seek to gauge the level of support of the GOP working group's white paper. The Democrats were left with the impression that McCain endorsed the GOP efforts, but they concede that he did not raise them directly.

Smartly, McCain's well insulated on this one.
***Update: That completely contradicts Ambinder's report one hour earlier:

During the White House meeting, it appears that Sen. John McCain had an agenda. He brought up alternative proposals, surprising and angering Democrats. He did not, according to someone briefed on the meeting, provide specifics.

Armbinder needs to get his stories straight.
(HT:TPM)

Because we already had McLies.com...

All you really need to know about "mavericks" John McCain & Sarah Palin: mclobbist.com.

-AF

Mountain Dew And Clorox Are The New Condoms

Another Abstinence-Only Disaster... Atrios calls attention to Florida where some kids think "drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy."

-AF

The Latest Congressional Oil Hearings

McClatchy sez Exxon-Mobil and friends came ready to rumble:

The oil industry denounced the hearing as "political theater" before it even started.

"Assaulting an American industry with punitive taxes, additional federal renewable fuel mandates that may have a negative impact on supply and actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, and the exploitation of its executives for just another Capitol Hill photo op is hardly a remedy that will produce the desired relief for consumers," said Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association...

Republicans and Democrats alike warned the executives that there would be a backlash against the companies and their record profits.

"The anger level is rising significantly," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, told the executives. "Your approval ratings are lower than ours, and that's damn low."

Hello? There would be a backlash? The backlash is in full swing. Big Oil knows we hate them for how increased oil prices have raised the price of everything. I don't think they care what this has done to our economy. They know we'll continue to buy their product at incremental 8% price increases. Oil had nothing to lose by coming out swinging.

The longer they stall any action against them, the more cash they bring in. Like our government, the rationale for their actions morphs as required. Limited refinery capacity, Katrina, space slugs, leprechauns, blah blah blah, no longer cut it. McClatchy:

The oil companies stayed on the offensive, blaming high consumer gas prices on a myriad of factors, but mostly on speculation and the declining value of the U.S. dollar.

That's rich. A huge factor contributing to speculation and the declining value of the U.S. dollar would be the Iraq war. You know, the war where before we went in, our oil President "allowed" our Vice-President to have his little energy task force with Big Oil execs to carve up Iraq's underexploited oil reserves. Besides, if you don't think the oil companies flipped their dollars to euros some time ago, you are absolutely fucking nuts . That couldn't have helped the dollar any. Since last year Jay-Z has traded in his benjamins for bin Ladens (at least in his videos).More McClatchy:

Exxon, the world's most profitable publicly traded corporation, was most defensive about its profits, but took a hard line with the committee on legislation that would rescind an $18 billion tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the money to encourage investment in renewable and alternative energy. In addition to Exxon, the committee heard from Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Overall, though, the oil companies tried to put a friendly face on the amount of money they're spending on developing U.S. oil and gas resources as well as alternative fuels research. But they also warned that for the foreseeable future, the U.S. — and the world — will continue to depend on fossil fuels even as new technologies are developed.

They are counting on it. Led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Congressman Ed Markey the committee did their best not to let Big Oil off the hook. Bloomberg:

The hearing probed the industry's fight against the House proposal for new taxes to promote alternative energy. Though Markey's committee has no authority to advance bills, it is laying the groundwork for legislation that would cut planet- warming emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel use.

Taxes should be fair, stable and pro-competitive, principles these proposals violate,'' Exxon's Simon said.

Markey took Simon to task for investing $100 million on renewable energy, while raking in $40 billion in profit last year.

``You can't have it both ways,'' Markey said. ``You can't on the one hand be nickel and diming renewables at Exxon Mobil and at the same time be recording $40 billion in profits.''

``Putting more money into something does not necessarily equal progress,'' Simon said.

We are painfully aware of that Mr. Simon (see Iraq War).

With the greatest profit in the history of this industry, it flips my lid that Big Oil has done so little to develop alternative energy sources. British Petroleum may be leading the way but I hardly call natural gas an "alternative technology." It too is a finite resource.

Like global warming deniers (almost all of which are subsidized by Big Oil or are just bat shit crazy stupid), they are seriously shortsighted. They must know we're past peak oil, right? Take the "Oil" outta "Big Oil" and you have Big Nothing.

Maybe this generation of oil execs still counts on access to Iraq's vast oil reserves to postpone the massive investment of capital needed to change their business model. Or perhaps they sleep sound in the knowledge that whenever that day comes, they will have enough euros to buy a new model.

-AF

McCain's Lobbyist Connections

Media Matters Action has a handy-dandy chart showing John McCain and the lobbyists he's surrounded himself with. Click on the individual lobbyist to find what he or she has lobbied for.

-AF

+Update: Thinkprogress gets specific.

Mukasey & Public Integrity

Scott Horton knows the score.

-AF

Bush Abstinence-Only Crusade Exported=Death

Previously on ASIAF...

I outlined how Bush's Abstinence-Only Crusade=1/4 Of Teenage Girls Get STDs and how Bush's Abstinence-Only Crusade=Big Money For Religious Right.

Still, even with the explosion of abstinence-only programs (and the directly related decline of comprehensive sex ed programs), our teenagers are better off than the people of HIV/AIDS-ravaged Africa where George Bush and his evangelical/religious right pals have exported tax payer-financed abstinence-only AIDS programs via Bush's PEPFAR. The President's Emergency Plan For Aids Relief would be almost laughable in an Orwellian way if its results weren't so tragic. In 2005, Rolling Stone called PEPFAR An Epidemic Failure observing that:

Bush has shifted the bulk of U.S. money away from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international organization that has funded projects in 128 countries and is widely recognized as the best way to distribute AIDS funds.

Instead of offering an "emergency plan for AIDS relief," George Bush created an AIDS relief plan emergency. PEPFAR's stated goal of AIDS-prevention is seriously compromised by its current requirement that 33% of the funds go to abstinence-only (read: religious right) groups:

Two highly-regarded studies, one by the Institutes of Medicine and another by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), found that the one-third earmark for abstinence programs undermines successful prevention efforts, in part by limiting flexibility on the ground. Both organizations called on Congress to strike the earmark. The House did so in theory, but replaced it with a new requirement that a minimum of 50 percent of funds for prevention of sexual transmission be allocated to "behavior change" as defined by Congress. Observers have called this a breakthrough.

Those "observers" aren't "observing" nearly hard enough. As Congress defines it, this "behavior change" means "abstinence, delay of sexual debut, monogamy and fidelity." So instead of only abstinence-only, Congress adds "wait" and "don't cheat." Congrats to the US Congress for inching their way towards treating Africans as adults.

This new language is unlikely to save any more lives. Feedback from our PEPFAR partners "suggests it is exactly these seemingly innocuous provisions now found in the House bill that cause the most trouble on the ground." Always impervious to anyone's concerns other than his own, Bush was found wandering Tanzania last month intently spinning the "new & improved" PEPFAR's as:

"a balanced program. It is an ABC program abstinence, be faithful and condoms. It is a program that's been proven effective."

Balanced and effective my ass. It's no accident that Bush listed condoms last. The 50% "behavior change" component is tailor-made for evangelical exploitation. It will ensure condoms continue to be a minor part of this effort. As for PEPFAR's overall efficacy, a Feb. 21 LA Times editorial (by a high school science teacher!), Popping The PEPFAR Bubble, has the skinny:

For the first two years of the program, Bush blocked the procurement of most low-cost, generic fixed-dose combinations of antiretrovirals in favor of brand-name, multi-drug regimens that cost twice as much — thus lining the pockets of U.S. pharmaceutical companies instead of saving lives. Even though a generic antiretroviral was approved by the FDA in 2005 and made available for purchase through Pepfar, only 27% of the antiretrovirals purchased by Pepfar in the 2006 fiscal year were generic. In addition, the U.S. has attempted to block access to quality generics on the global market.

Pepfar requires that 33% of all prevention monies (including prevention of nonsexual transmission) and two-thirds of sexual-transmission funds be spent on abstinence and fidelity programs. Many of these programs are administered by "faith-based" organizations, typically evangelical Christian groups that promote "abstinence before marriage" and "being faithful" and downplay the use of condoms. This, combined with the Bush administration's go-it-alone approach and refusal to integrate with national AIDS prevention programs already in place, has essentially destroyed years of AIDS prevention work in several countries. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Uganda, where a highly successful AIDS prevention program that stressed the used of condoms had been in place since 1990. After Uganda accepted Pepfar funding in 2003, faith-based organizations undermined the country's condom program. As a result, millions of condoms sat in warehouses because they were not wanted. According to Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli, the director general of the Uganda AIDS Commission, since it adopted the program, the rate of new HIV infections almost doubled, from 70,000 in 2003 to 130,000 in 2005.

This is only a taste of the many criticisms of Pepfar. Not to mention any of them in the article is negligent. Pepfar has done much good, but it has accomplished only a fraction of its potential. Pepfar should not be used as platform for Christian groups to proselytize and attempt to impose their own view of morality on different cultures. It should not be used to transfer taxpayers' dollars to the pockets of pharmaceutical companies. We must cut the many strings attached to the program that hobble its effectiveness and bring the focus back to saving lives, not playing politics.
(emphasis added)

Yep. George Bush's "go-it-alone" and "refusal to cooperate" approach strikes again. The difference is that PEPFAR profits evangelical, conservative and other big time Republican campaign contributors (i.e. Big Pharma) while killing the very people it purports to help. Among the many ironies (including the all-too-familiar "Christians "acting in a decidedly un-Christian manner theme) is that through his PEPFAR policy, our self-styled "promoter-in-chief of Democracy aboard" has unwittingly contributed to political instability in South Africa's democracies.

Due to its lack of geographical proximity to us and our overwhelming eight years worth of Bush fatigue, it's all too easy to chalk up Bush's abstinence-only African adventure as just another in a long line of colossal GWB fuck-ups. But in countries like Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe the stakes are so much higher than everywhere else. For hundreds of thousands of Africans, Bush's and his evangelical pals' abstinence-only posture is a death sentence.

-AF

Some Africa HIV/AIDS resources:
PEPFAR Watch
AllAfrica.
Global HIV/AIDS pandemic:
UNAIDS
Global Health Reporting.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pedriatric Foundation does great work in Africa and elsewhere. Donate here.

State Department Employees Peek Into Obama's Passport Files

Reports from The Washington Times, The NY Times and CNN

In some way I think it will turn out to be significant that these snoops were not State Dept. lifers but "contract employees."

Josh Marshall adds this nugget:

According to a new piece out in the Post from Glenn Kessler, the breaches occurred Jan. 9th, Feb. 21st and March 14th.

That would be the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit.

-AF

+Update: The aforementioned WaPo story.

Bush's Abstinence-Only Crusade=1/4 Of Teenage Girls Get STDs

Last week the CDC released the results of its first-ever study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in teenage girls. The results were deeply disturbing. One in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. For all African-American teenage girls that number is double. The most common disease was the human papillomavirus. A virus linked to cervical cancer. The very same virus evangelicals and other "conservative" types don't want to vaccinate their daughters against for fear they'll go all mad promiscuous.

These uptight sexist bastards want our daughters and sons to know as little about sex and nothing about how to prevent STDs or unplanned pregnancy. From Bush on down, they preach abstinence as the only option. This unrealistic approach puts teenagers unnecessarily at risk. Plus there's absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that it works! Actually, the new CDC study provides additional strong anecdotal evidence that Bush's abstinence-only crusade is an abject failure.

We knew this already. Last November, a study* (PDF summary) by the non-partisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy concluded:

At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners (among teenagers).

These dangerous crackpots are not content to vehemently deny their children basic information to protect themselves. They cannot abide by any program that does. Without any supporting evidence, abstinence-only advocates claim such informative programs do more harm than good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Last November ABC News reported:

The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."

"Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect," said the report.

Yes, the but the key word in "abstinence-only" is "only." More ABC News:

The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiative of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.

None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.

Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."

Even a 2007 study contracted by Bush's own HHS Department reached the same conclusions. Furthermore, it found under abstinence-only programs, teenagers are “less likely to report that condoms are usually effective at preventing STDs and more likely to report that condoms are never effective at preventing STDs.” Heckuva job Bushie!

He can't help himself. Not unlike the Iraq War, Bush has long committed himself to obliviously ride this train to its destination, a ruined bridge. Salon's 2004 Bush's Sex Fantasy tells how George Bush "lobbied for and promoted abstinence-only" early in his tenure as Texas Governor. The article also notes how "the teen pregnancy rate in Texas remains one of the highest in the country, despite the abstinence-only policies Bush pushed as governor."

You would think all of this would be enough to bring the abstinence-only gravy train to a grinding halt. Au contraire. The CDC report on STDs amongst teenage girls was met with a kind of rejoicing amongst hard-core evangelicals. Breaking Christian News had this breathless bulletin:

President Bush's 2009 budget proposal includes an important increase in funding for Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE).

In light of a disturbing report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention which came out this week—and revealed that 1 in 4 teenage girls have a sexually transmitted infection (STI)—the President's urging for abstinence education is timely and obviously needed.

Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action, stated, "With 3 million teen girls infected with STIs, safer sex in adolescents does not exist. For the current and future health of teens, we must teach them how to have strong relationships not based on sex."

Again the willful misperception and implication that there is no such thing as "safer sex""
and that any form of sex ed other than abstinence will lead teenagers to have weak relationships that are based only on sex.

Next up, we learn that George Bush's abstinence-only crusade has less to do with the sex than it does the money.

-AF

*This particular study was conducted by ETR Associates, a non-profit non-partisan organization "dedicated to developing and disseminating evidenced-based programs and best practices." ETR Associates markets teen-targeted pamphlets, posters, DVDs and other materials emphasizing health education and sexuality to both sides of this debate. Their publications cover everything from abstinence and safe sex to substance abuse and violence.

Mr. McCain Not So McSqueaky Clean: Close Links to 3 Telecom Lobbyists

Everyone's all a titter about this NY Times story alleging that Sen. John McCain has had an "inappropriate relationship" with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. Her un-scrubbed lobby firm bio is here. Per Raw Story, the Times had held this story for months publishing it only after The New Republic (sub. required) starting nosing around 229 W. 43rd St. for their own story. WaPo was treading water on this one too.

I personally could care less whether or not the self-confessed Senior Adulterer from Arizona and Iseman are romantically entangled (other than the mere thought of McCain entangling anything with anyone completely creeps me out). It will be enough to give some so-called "values voters" pause.

But as the Amazing Digby points out It's Not About The Sex...it's about the favors. McCain's unswerving support of Iseman's telecom clients included championing bills to end big time evangelical Bud Paxson's (Ion Television formerly Paxson Communications) and others' fight to force cable to run his broadcast stations or to provide minority ownership tax breaks for Cunningham Broadcasting (née Glencairn, LTD -- the shell corp. owned and operated by the evil John Kerry-swiftboating Sinclair empire to avoid FCC ownership regs). McCain not so coincidentally spearheaded a ton of broadcast industry deregulation that contributed to the MSM mess we now endure.

However, this goes deeper than McCain's favoritism and reciprocal of use of their corporate jets and other stuff. The aforementioned NY Times piece points out just how far Johnny Boy's super-cozyness with lobbyists goes:

Like other presidential candidates, he has relied on lobbyists to run his campaigns. Since a cash crunch last summer, several of them — including his campaign manager, Rick Davis, who represented companies before Mr. McCain’s Senate panel — have been working without pay, a gift that could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

In recent weeks, Mr. McCain has hired another lobbyist, Mark Buse, to run his Senate office. In his case, it was a round trip through the revolving door: Mr. Buse had directed Mr. McCain’s committee staff for seven years before leaving in 2001 to lobby for telecommunications companies.
(my emphasis)

Shee-it! As HuffPo noted last year John McCain's 2008 team is fucking riddled with lobbyists! Forget about a rumored romance with Iseman, even at work Johnny's in bed with lobbyists! Mark Buse is notorious as one of the two lobbyists secretly hired by former CPB Chair/Karl Rove amigo/Republican tool Ken Tomlinson to quash attempts to seat more actual broadcasters on the PBS board.

It turns out McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis is even more controversial. The WaPo hits Rick Davis for setting up a McCain meet with gangster-linked Putin-pal billionaire Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska. At the time Davis was still at his own lobby firm Davis Manafort where his biggest clients were telecom giants SBC Global AT&T and Verizon. According to Open Secrets between 1998-99 & 2003-05 Davis Manafort raked in at total of $670,000 SBC Global AT&T bucks. From 2003-2005 Verizon tossed him a cool $540,000.

While Iseman and Buse do not seem to have any vested interest in telecom immunity, his Campaign Manager Rick Davis sure does. "Straight Talk" McCain's recent vote to keep telecom immunity in Bush's wiretapping bill appears not like a vote to keep us safer but a vote for Davis' once and future clients. McCain's continued support of telecom immunity is a fait accompli or Davis wouldn't be working for him for free.

This raises the question: In what other ways would "Honest Johnny" McCain favor the special interests he used to rail against once he's President and at what cost to the average citizen?

Let's all agree right now to not find out. Please.

-AF

**Update: Firedoglake has more dirt on Davis.

**Update #2: TPM's Josh Marshall harks back to his days at TAP for a Paxson-led mega billion dollar tax payer boondoggle.

**Update #3: Stroke Girl waxes philosophic on the rise & fall of the heroic John McCain.

The Ultimate Republican Playbook or The Great Republican Perpetual Power Ploy

Deleted to be reconstituted.