(As usual, if you want all the links then go here.)
Just some stories of note that I've seen for the day.
ITEM: No one (progressive) cries for Max Baucus, the horrible right wing DINO (Democrat In Name Only) senator from Montana who announced his retirement today. What's worse he voted no on a watered down gun control bill last week and he had nothing to lose by doing the right thing. Here's a sampling of commentary:
From Firedoglake's DS Wright:
Do you hear that? It is the sound of progressives across America giving each other high fives as Senator Max Baucus has, according to theWashington Post, decided not to run for re-election in 2014 and will retire.
From Bold Progressives and this is titled "Senator K Street Retires":
Great news!
U.S. Senator Max Baucus -- known as the "Senator from K Street" because of his ties to corporate lobbyists -- is retiring!
Howard Dean even chimes in as to who could replace him (I belong to many prog email lists.)
Philip --
Sen. Max Baucus's decision to retire is a huge opportunity for progressives.
Now, we have the chance to elect a powerful populist and a single-payer healthcare advocate to the U.S. Senate.
That's why Democracy for America is launching the campaign to draft Gov. Brian Schweitzer for U.S. Senate.
Sign our petition to Draft Brian Schweitzer for Senate.
Brian Schweitzer would be a fantastic replacement or at least as fantastic a replacement you can have for a majority party that allows minority veto over anything valuable they might do by way of the filibuster. Honestly: Big money means that the Republicans are paid to win and the Democrats are paid to lose. This Democratic Party as the Washington Generals party still strikes me as true. Related: Jon Walker talks about how the Max Baucus retirement could be beneficial in that it could yield the far superior Schweitzer as a replacement . More Related: He also explains how the problem is still the filibuster. I wouldn't mind that as much if the Republicans weren't an openly fascist party. Still Related: Daily Kos, ever the professional leftists (which we need more of by the way..) also has a petition up drafting Schweitzer.
ITEM: Jeremy Scahill's new book "Dirty Wars" would be the hot new read this week it seems. But as I'm too lazy to actually read books I try to watch as many youtube videos as I can to learn things. The best work, as per usual, comes from Democracy Now. This is the seven minute YouTube snippet here and the 36 version here. You can also find a short snippet here from The Nation's online YouTube channel. Related: This book also forms the basis of the documentary "Dirty Wars" which Amy Goodman describes as "devastating." Here's the very cool spy like trailer.
ITEM: There was yet another study, this time from the state government of Pennsylvania itself run by Republicans (guess it will be dismantled soon) saying that taking the $17 billion in free money that the federal government is offering the state would help the economy. This would bring the number to three, if you've been counting. Its really good news if Pa. Governor Tom Corbett believed in good news. You can read more here.
ITEM: And yes the legal war against Gidas Flowers and serial liar Peter Gidas continues.