Rep. Lee Resigns over Craigslist Scandal

CW: I've moved this post up, as there are some updates.

Congressman Christopher Lee (R-NY) in his official photo & in the one he sent to the woman he contacted via Craigslist. Left: Congressional photo; right: photo by Chris Lee via Gawker."A Classy Guy." Maureen O'Connor of Gawker: "Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist's 'Women Seeking Men' forum, he's Christopher Lee, 'divorced' 'lobbyist' and 'fit fun classy guy.' One object of his flirtation told [Gawker] her story.... By email, Lee identified himself as a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist and sent a PG picture to the woman from the ad. (In fact, Lee is married and has one son with his wife. He's also 46.) Read the whole story; Lee at first asserted his e-mail account had been hacked, but Gawker has him dead to rights. ...

     ... This story was going down the page in The Soaps till I read the update. Now it's news: "Three hours after his shirtless Craigslist antics appeared [in Gawker], Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) announced his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives."

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has some info on the political ramifications. Lee represents the 26th Congressional District -- between Rochester & Buffalo -- which went for McCain with 52% of the vote in 2008, the year Lee was first elected. He easily won re-election in 2010.

Jimmy Vielkind of the Albany Times Union runs down what happens next in the 26th Congressional District as best he can, inasmuch as there are lots of complications.

Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times just got an item up -- the story is running on the front page of the Times website, complete with the beefcake picture. I'm sure this schmuck always imagined himself on the front page of the Times, but probably not in just this context. Here's an expanded story by Hernandez that doesn't really cover any new ground. ...

Jill Terreri of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has some tidbits: "Conservative radio talk show host Bill Nojay described Lee as a rising star in the Republican Party, and a Boy Scout.... Here's a good one:

At the same time, responding to what may seem like a friendly e-mail or an appealing marketing offer can have serious consequences. Private information and images can so easily be transmitted to friends and strangers alike. -- Christopher Lee, 2009, in an opinion piece in support of an Internet safety bill he was sponsoring

Update. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday called the resignation of Rep. Chris Lee 'the right decision,' but declined to talk about whether he had advised Lee to go.... Boehner also deflected questions about a report in a Capitol Hill newspaper last year, which said he had advised a group of GOP legislators - including Lee - to curb inappropriate behavior with female lobbyists." ...

     ... What Fahrenthold is too delicate to mention is this National Enquirer story, which seems to have legs as it's been reported independently elsewhere. Here's a snippet from the online story; you have to buy the tabloid to read the full story:

Capitol Hill insiders and political bloggers have been buzzing about an upcoming New York Times probe -- detailing an alleged affair that  [John Boehner,] the 61-year-old married father of two, had with pretty Washington lobbyist Lisbeth Lyons. And an ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered a bedroom encounter that Boehner - second in line of succession to the presidency - allegedly had with Leigh LaMora, a 46-year-old former press secretary to ex-Colorado Congressman Joel Hefley.

Danielle Belton of TheLoop21 interviews the woman who outted Chris Lee. ...

     ... Update. The Washington Post's Reliable Source identifies the woman at the center of the scandal as Yesha Callahan, a faculty specialist for the University of Maryland and single mother of a preteen son.

Last year, Roll Call listed Lee among the 50 richest members of Congress:

The churn in the Lee family assets continued last year, and the New York Republican appears to come out a little better off than he was before. After his election in 2008, Lee — who had been an executive in his family’s mechanical parts business — sold numerous assets, and his apparent net worth dropped from a little more than $11 million to just more than $7 million.

Last year, Lee bought and sold dozens of mutual fund accounts in hundreds of transactions, and his reported minimum net worth increased more than $1 million.

Alan Bedenko of WNY News: "The sole member of the New York State congressional delegation to vote against guaranteeing health care and monitoring for the heroes of 9/11 was Chris Lee from NY-26. Lee’s objection? He can’t STAND the government having the job-killing audacity to expect companies making a profit in the United States to actually pay income taxes on those profits. Only the little people pay taxes."

K. Lee of the New York Examiner: Chris Lee was one of the sponsors of H.R. 3, the draconian bill designed to stop funding abortions except in cases of "forcible rape." (Republicans removed the adjective "forcible" from the bill after a public outcry, but the bill itself is wending its way through the House.) 

Brian Stelter of the New York Times argues that Gawker's new "news" format -- widely panned by the site's regulars -- helped drive the Chris Lee story by keeping it in a prominent position on Gawker's main page, wheras in the older blog format the story would have moved down the page as staff posted new stories.

The Commentariat -- February 10

Tahrir Square, Wednesday night. AFP photo. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times profiles the young professionals who instigated and guided the Egyptian uprising, some of whom are coming forward for the first time. ...

... Stephen Kinzer in the Daily Beast: "Hosni Mubarak is falling from power in Egypt partly because he refused to heed one of history’s hidden lessons: Dictators shouldn’t have sons. Most do. That often hastens their downfall or that of their nations."

... Tony Karon of Time: "Having initially come close to suggesting it was time for Mubarak to go (without actually saying as much), the Obama Administration brought relief to its regional allies — Israel and other Arab autocrats — by endorsing Mubarak's intelligence chief, hastily appointed as Vice President, to oversee an 'orderly' political transition.... Not only has Suleiman failed to engage seriously with any of the key demands of the opposition but he has begun to darkly warn that the 'intolerable' protest action must be speedily brought to an end. And so the Administration has found itself having to scold and berate the man Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last weekend hailed as the leader to oversee the transition." ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The White House is moving to stamp out reports that top officials — including Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — are sending conflicting signals about how best to resolve the crisis in Egypt. On Wednesday, the White House and the State Department staged a 50-minute conference call for reporters ... to insist that the administration’s messages on the standoff between embattled President Hosni Mubarak and demonstrators demanding his ouster have been consistent both in public — and private." ...

... Nicholas Kristof on the Obama Administration's response to the Egyptian crisis: "... whatever message we’re trying to send, the one that is coming through is that we continue to embrace the existing order, and that could taint our future relations with Egypt for many years to come."

Cord Jefferson of Good Culture: "The rise of the anti-big government Tea Party movement in America has also seen a rise in the number of citizens publicly decrying both taxes and the social welfare programs for which those taxes provide. A recent study shows, however, that many Americans actually have no idea that they're on the dole, calling into question the validity of their attacks on government handouts." To wit:

     ... The numbers in the graph represent "the percentages of people who benefit from the specified government program while also saying ... they 'have not used a government social program.' Besides these numbers, more than 25 percent of people on food stamps think they don't take government assistance, and nearly 30 percent of people getting Social Security disability benefits."

... Jay Newton-Small of Time on how the House found $100 billion to cut -- at the insistence of the teabaggers -- and how the Senate will add most of that $100 BB right back in. She predicts there could be a government shutdown/showdown. ...

... Carl Hulse of New York Times: "Under pressure to make deeper spending cuts and blindsided by embarrassing floor defeats, House Republican leaders are quickly discovering the limits of control over their ideologically driven and independent-minded new majority. For the second consecutive day, House Republicans on Wednesday lost a floor vote due to a mini-revolt, this time over a plan to demand a repayment from the United Nations. Earlier in the day, members of the party’s conservative bloc used a closed-door party meeting to push the leadership to go well beyond its plans to trim about $40 billion from domestic spending and foreign aid this year, demanding $100 billion or more." ...

... John Bresnahan & Jake Sherman of Politico: "It usually takes a lot longer for the party in charge to start with the finger-pointing, the failed votes and the backpedaling on campaign promises. But the House Republican majority has already had two failed floor votes, is experiencing a backlash on the right over spending cuts and has bypassed the committee process it once praised for taking up major bills." ...

... Dana Bash of CNN: "House Republican leaders under fire from fellow conservatives for backtracking on a promise to cut $100 billion in spending this year are suddenly trying to meet that goal, according to a senior House GOP aide." ...

... Lori Montgomery & Shailagh Murray of the Washington Post: "House Republicans sketched their vision for a smaller federal government Wednesday, proposing sharp spending cuts that would wipe out family planning programs, take 4,500 cops off the street and slice 10 percent from a food program that aids pregnant women and their babies. Top White House priorities also would come under the knife: Key Republicans are proposing to defund President Obama's high-speed rail initiative, slash clean energy programs and gut the Office of Science by 20 percent - cuts that would deal a direct blow to Obama's innovation agenda. They would also cut the Environmental Protection Agency by 17 percent."

... Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "... the White House is targeting programs in the $4 trillion budget that benefit low-income Americans. It's a sop to moderates and conservatives, and it's likely to infuriate voters who put President Barack Obama in the White House." ...

... Sam Stein: "Reports that President Barack Obama's upcoming budget will propose steep cuts in the government's energy assistance fund for low-income Americans ricocheted quickly on Capitol Hill Wednesday, spurring some intraparty squabbling. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wrote a letter to Obama asking him not to drop funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by about $3 billion."

Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "After significant public blowback, House Republicans last week promised to drop a controversial provision in their high-priority No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act that would redefine rape. But almost a week later, that language is still in the bill.... Even if the language is dropped, abortion-rights advocates warn that H.R. 3 would still be a significant step backwards for women's rights. In a press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said that the legislation shows a 'heinous disregard for the health and well-being of women in America' and would be 'a tax on all women who want access to a full range of reproductive health care.'"

Dave Clarke of Reuters: "The Obama administration's tough, but short-lived, crackdown on pay at the biggest U.S. banks will have little long-term impact...." A report released today by the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel gave Ken Feinberg, the administration's pay czar, "a failing grade."

Howard Fineman explains why Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) decision not to run for re-election is so important -- Virginia will be a critical state in the 2012 presidential election. President Obama will personally lobby DNC Chair & former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to run for Webb's seat. Former Republican Sen. George "Macaca" Allen has already announced he will run or his old seat -- Webb beat him in a close race in 2006.

Karen Garcia on "This Week in Rudeness - Incivility Resurges After Temporary Setback." Garcia invites you to cite more examples....

... Here's a video of O'Reilly interrupting President Obama. The count here is 48 times; others have come up with a count of 72. Whatever, it's incredibly rude:

Right Wing News

** Dana Milbank, relying almost entirely on questions & testimony, gives you a fabulous flavor of what Congress is like when Republicans are in charge. His report on Ron Paul's first hearing on monetary policy is a stunning examply of Crazy in Congress. Here's a sample of the back-and-forth:

Witness/Economist Richard Vedder: I think economists who make predictions are foolish.

Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.): What would happen if we returned to the gold standard?

Vedder: I think we'd be in a better place.

Green: Now what did you say about people who make predictions?

Vedder: I said, "Some economists make bad predictions, some of them make good predictions.

Green: You said they were foolish.

Vedder: Foolish?

... Annie Lowrey, in Slate, makes the case that Ron Paul, famous for his desire to End the Fed, the title of one of his books, is only kidding. She gets support for her argument from Paul himself:

If tomorrow we closed the Fed and started using a gold standard, it would be so chaotic nobody would know what to do. There are interim positions, such as allowing competition in currencies. People aren't ready for that. It's complicated—it is very complicated. -- Ron Paul

The Change (& Change Again) Candidate. David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix: Mitt Romney rewrites chapters in his No Apologies campaign book to sound more teabaggerish.  

News Ledes

** New York Times: "President Hosni Mubarak told the Egyptian people Thursday that he would delegate more authority to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, but that he would not resign his post, contradicting earlier reports that he would step aside and surprising hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered to hail his departure from the political scene."

President Obama spoke about the National Wireless Initiative this afternoon. Washington Post: "President Obama is to unveil a plan Thursday to bring wireless high-speed Internet access to all Americans, a goal the administration says is key to the country's ability to compete globally in the years to come." Update: here are President Obama's prepared remarks about the wireless initiative; they do not include his comments about Egypt, made near the top of his speech. (The remarks on Egypt were pretty noncommittal, of the "We're watching history unfold" variety.) See video of the President's speech as well as Austan Goolsbee's explanation of the wireless initiative under the February 11 Commentariat above.

     ... Update: here the citation, via al Jazeera:

What's absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold. The people of Egypt are calling for change. People representing all ages and all walks of life -- but it is young people who are at the forefront -- a new generation, your generation, who want their voices to be heard -- and we want those young people to know the United States of America will support an orderly transition to democracy.

Fox "News": "Two GOP sources confirm to Fox that 3-term Senator Jon Kyl will announce his retirement at a noon news conference Thursday in Phoenix." AP Update: "Arizona Republican Jon Kyl said Thursday he won't seek re-election to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate in 2012, creating another open seat as Republicans try to take back control." CW: too bad his swan song got buried in other news.

AP: "Egypt's military announced on national television it had stepped in to secure the country and promised protesters calling for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster that all their demands would soon be met. The CIA director said Mubarak appeared poised to hand over his powers to his vice president, Omar Suleiman." ...

... ** New York Times: "Egypt’s armed forces on Thursday announced that they had begun to take 'necessary measures to protect the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people,' a step that suggested the military intends to take a commanding role in administering the strife-torn nation. The announcement of an enhanced role for the military came as officials in President Hosni Mubarak’s government suggested a momentous shift in power was underway, including a possible transfer of power from Mr. Mubarak to his Vice President Omar Suleiman." ...

... Here's Al Jazeera's report on a meeting called by the Eqyptian army & chaired by "Mohamed Tantawi, the defence minister, rather than Mubarak, who, as president, would normally have headed the meeting." ...

... New York Times: "As Egypt’s uprising entered its 17th day on Thursday, bolstered by strikes and protests among professional groups in Cairo and workers across the country, a senior official [Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit] in President Hosni Mubarak’s embattled government was quoted as saying the army would 'intervene to control the country' if it fell into chaos."

... Guardian: "The Egyptian military has secretly detained hundreds and possibly thousands of suspected government opponents since mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak began, and at least some of these detainees have been tortured, according to testimony gathered by the Guardian." ...

... Reuters: "A minister has resigned from the Egyptian cabinet formed by President Hosni Mubarak in response to an uprising against his rule, a family member said on Wednesday. Culture Minister Gaber Asfour resigned for health reasons, a member of his family told Reuters. But the website of Egypt's main daily newspaper al-Ahram said Asfour, a writer, was under pressure from literary colleagues over the post."

AP: "India and Pakistan announced Thursday they would resume wide-ranging peace talks that were frozen after the 2008 terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, which were blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The U.S. has been pressing the nuclear-armed rivals to restart their peace efforts...."

New York Times: "Fourteen months after the State Senate soundly rejected legislation that would have legalized same-sex marriage, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is preparing to pursue another vote on the matter in the next few months."

AP: "A suicide bomber linked to the Pakistani Taliban attacked soldiers during morning exercises at an army training camp in the northwest Thursday, killing 31 troops and wounding 42 others."

AP: "The website of an Iranian opposition leaders says authorities have placed him under house arrest because of his calls for a rally in support of anti-government demonstrations in Egypt. Mahdi Karroubi's sahamnews.org says security officers are stationed at the entrance to Karroubi's house in Tehran on Thursday and are preventing relatives from meeting him."

AP: "Ten moderate Saudi scholars say they've formed the kingdom's first political party and have asked the king for recognition."

The Commentariat -- February 9

The Editors of the New York Times get it mostly right: "The United States and the European Union ... badly miscalculated when they endorsed Egypt’s vice president, Omar Suleiman, to lead the transition to democracy. Mr. Suleiman ... appears far more interested in maintaining as much of the old repressive order as he can get away with.... So the United States and its allies will have to lay down a clear list of steps that are the minimum for holding a credible vote this year and building a democracy."

     ... CW: what the editors get wrong, I think, is that choosing Suleiman was a "miscalculation." I think the Obama Administration & European leaders know exactly what kind of a man Suleiman is. He's what they want. ...

... Mark Landler & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have each repeatedly pressed the United States not to cut loose Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, too hastily, or to throw its weight behind the democracy movement in a way that could further destabilize the region.... There is evidence that the pressure has paid off. On Saturday, just days after suggesting that it wanted immediate change, the administration said it would support an 'orderly transition' managed by Vice President Omar Suleiman." ...

... Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy: "Ironically, by kidnapping, detaining, and then releasing [Google executive Wael] Ghonim -- instantly turning him into a nationwide celebrity -- the regime may have just created an undisputed leader for a movement that in recent days has struggled to find its footing, seemingly outfoxed by a government skilled in the dark arts of quashing and marginalizing dissent." Here's the interview of Ghonim made by an independent Egyptian network (it's labeled "Part 2," but Part 1 is the interviewer describing her contacts with Ghonim). If you can't see the English-language captions, press the CC in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Cursor through for the rest of the interview:

... Tom Cohen of CNN: Press Secretary Robert Gibbs criticizes comments by Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman, calls remarks "unhelpful." With video. CW: big whoop.

** Adam Goldman & Matt Apuzzo of the AP: "In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officers who committed serious mistakes that left people wrongly imprisoned or even dead have received only minor admonishments or no punishment at all, an Associated Press investigation has revealed.... Though Obama has sought to put the CIA's interrogation program behind him, the result of a decade of haphazard accountability is that many officers who made significant missteps are now the senior managers fighting the president's spy wars."

Lee Fang of Think Progress: "Nearly every Republican voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus. But the majority of the GOP caucus later took credit for dozens of successful local stimulus jobs and projects.... Now, Republican leaders are coalescing around a proposal to 'cancel unused spending authority in the 2009 stimulus bill' that could block funds from flowing to ongoing stimulus projects."

Taxes Are Too Damned Low. AP: "... as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950.... And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike. Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency. Corporate taxes will be lower by a third, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office." ...

... Taxes may be too damned low, but Republicans spent what taxpayer money they got on luxurious accommodations for themselves. Christine Wade of the Tampa Tribune: "They rented an exclusive waterfront mansion, wined and dined at five-star restaurants and hired family members and friends, all on the taxpayers' dime. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's 2012 convention team based in the Tampa Bay area raked up nearly $1 million in charges – using a line of credit backed by federal funding – before they were fired by the newly elected party chairman [Reince Priebus] last month."

Paul Kane & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Republicans suffered an embarrassing setback Tuesday when they fell seven votes short of extending provisions of the Patriot Act, a vote that served as the first small uprising of the party's tea-party bloc. The bill to reauthorize key parts of the counter-terrorism surveillance law ... required a super-majority to pass under special rules reserved for non-controversial measures.... With most Democrats opposing the extension, the final tally was 277 members in favor of extension, and 148 opposed. The Republicans ... made plans to bring the measure back for a quick vote later this month under normal rules, requiring only a simple majority for passage. They blamed House Democrats for the bill's downfall...."...

... Funny thing was, Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) dared the teabaggers to vote for the Patriot Act extension. Before the vote he said, "I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization." And two dozen of them did vote against the extension. ...

... NEW. Glenn Greenwald on the Tea Party & the Patriot Act. "... what happened last night highlights the potential to subvert the two-party stranglehold on these issues -- through a left-right alliance that opposes the Washington insiders who rule both parties." CW: my favorite sentence: "Yesterday, on the very same day that the Obama White House demanded that Egypt repeal its 30-year-old 'emergency law,' it also demanded enactment of the House GOP's proposal to extend America's own emergency law -- the Patriot Act -- for three more years with no new oversight...."

I didn't raise taxes once. -- President Barack Obama to Bill O'Reilly ...

... PolitiFact puts the President's statement to the test, & finds numerous instances where he signed legislation that raised taxes. (I guess PolitiFact didn't give the President a "Pants on Fire" rating because a depiction of the POTUS's pants on fire lacks the dignity accorded the office.) ...

... CW: I don't know what happened to the video of Bill O'Reilly's interview of President Obama, but at some point I guess Fox took it down. I found a YouTube copy, though, so if you missed it you can watch it here (scroll down a bit). If Fox takes this one down, too, you're on your own! Sorry about that. ...

... AND Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post fact-checks former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "His assertion that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had 'thrown out' weapons inspectors is a common misperception, often repeated by former Bush administration officials." Kessler gives Rumsfeld four Pinocchios, the worst rating, which Kessler calls a "Whopper."

Vice President Biden speaks about the Administration's plan to build a 21st century infrastructure with investments in roads, bridges and high-speed rail. It runs 30 minutes -- hey, Biden is long-winded:

... Ashley Halsey of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration plans to spend $53 billion on high-speed and intercity rail over the next six years. Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement Tuesday morning during an appearance at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.... President Obama's budget for fiscal year 2012, which is to be unveiled next week includes $8 billion for the plan.The rest of the money will be allocated over five years, officials said."

"Rich Take from Poor...." David Dietz of Bloomberg News: "Since 2003, some of the world’s biggest financial companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase and Prudential, have taken advantage of a federal subsidy that will cost taxpayers $10.1 billion.... Investors have used the program, called New Markets Tax Credits, to help build more than 300 upscale projects, including hotels, condominiums, office buildings and a car museum, on streets far from poverty.... Money spent on high-end development could have been used to build more than 1,000 job-training centers, medical clinics and schools."

The "Widows Tax." Kimberly Hefling of the AP: "Tens of thousands of the nation's war widows find it perplexing and downright disrespectful to their late military husbands: In order to fully collect on insurance their husbands bought for them when alive, they must marry another man. And to qualify, the widows must remarry when they are 57 or older. Those who remarry earlier miss out, as do widows who never remarry.... Time after time, members of Congress have promised to help the 55,000 affected widows, but laws passed to help them have only created a more complicated system...."

Lori Montgomery & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "States that have borrowed ... from the federal government to cover ... unemployment benefits would get immediate relief from the Obama administration under a plan to suspend interest payments for the next two years. Obama also would suspend automatic hikes in the federal unemployment tax.... But starting in 2014, Obama would target companies for sharply higher payroll taxes." ...

     ... Update. Jonathan Weisman & Damian Paletta of the Wall Street Journal: "Republicans on Capitol Hill responded with hostility Tuesday to [the] White House proposal...." CW: you know it must be good if Republicans hate it.

Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post comments on Justice Clarence Thomas' "impartiality." Click on the cartoon to watch the animation:

Center for Constitutional Rights: "... two torture victims were to have filed  criminal complaints, with more than 2,500-pages of supporting material, in Geneva against former U.S. President George W. Bush, who was due to speak at an event there on 12 February. Swiss law requires the presence of the torturer on Swiss soil before a preliminary investigation can be opened.  When Bush cancelled his trip to avoid prosecution, the human rights groups who prepared the complaints made it public and announced that the Bush Torture Indictment would be waiting wherever he travels next." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Hey, I thought she was mine! I was gonna do her! -- Male TSA Agent, "hollering," after a female agent gave Time's Amy Sullivan a patdown

Right Wing News

Ron Paul, one of the most outspoken opponents of the Federal Reserve, held his first subcommittee hearing as chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the central bank today. His star witness was econ prof Thomas DiLorenzo, an Abraham Lincoln-hating secessionist. CW: I am not making this up. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) directly took on DiLorenzo for his membership in the League of the South, an organization that has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a 'neo-Confederate' hate group advocating for Southern secession. Clay then rattled off a list of some of DiLorenzo's articles, including 'More Lies about the Civil War,' 'In Defense of Sedition,' and 'The First Dictator-President,' which examines 'how Lincoln's myth has corrupted America.'" Mike Konczal has some background here. (Via Krugman) ...

... The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree. Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Rand Paul has broken with tradition by eschewing the unwritten rules for freshman senators: Keep a low profile, learn the chamber’s arcane procedures and cozy up to senior colleagues.... Paul is one of three founding members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, which has set itself up as a tacit rival to the Senate GOP leadership."

Scott Keyes of Think Progress has a nice little item that lists some of the phony excuses Congressional Republicans make for taking government-subsidized health insurance even while voting against the Affordable Care Act for everybody else, but Keyes' favorite was Rep. Bill Posey (Florida) who said he didn't know if he was a federal employee. And we are subsidizing his insurance policy.

News Ledes

Politico: "Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb plans to announce today that he won't seek reelection, the Senator confirmed Wednesday. Webb appeared likely to face a rematch with former Senator George Allen, whom he beat in a bruising 2006 contest. He had expressed ambivalence about the prospect of another run, and has said he never planned a life in politics." New York Times item here.

Washington Post: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is able to speak: She asked for toast at breakfast one recent morning. Her ability to say even just a word, a month after being shot in the head, pleased her family, friends and doctors."

Al Jazeera: "The embattled government of Egypt had not met even a minimum threshold of reforms demanded by the people of the country, the White House said on Wednesday, warning that massive protests will likely continue until real reforms are instituted. In a sharp escalation of rhetoric..., Robert Gibbs, president Barack Obama's spokesman, suggested that some Egyptian leaders thought they could wait out the protesters...." ...

... AP: "Thousands of workers went on strike Wednesday across Egypt, adding a new dimension to the uprising as public rage turned to the vast wealth President Hosni Mubarak's family reportedly amassed while close to half the country struggled near the poverty line." ...

... New York Times: "Protesters demanding the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak appeared on Wednesday to have recaptured the initiative in their battle with his government, demonstrating a new ability to mobilize thousands to take over Cairo’s streets beyond their headquarters at Tahrir Square and to spark labor unrest.... In the most potentially significant action, about 6,000 workers at five service companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority — a major component of the Egyptian economy — began a sit-in on Tuesday night...."

... Washington Post: "Opposition groups accused the Egyptian government Wednesday of trying to draw out the process of amending the constitution after Vice President Omar Suleiman said that the only way forward was through 'dialogue' or a 'coup.'" ...

... Guardian: "The [British] foreign secretary, William Hague, has warned Israel against allowing the Middle East peace process to become a casualty of turmoil in the region, urging it to tone down 'belligerent language' over protests in Egypt and other neighbouring states."

New York Times: "Prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberati announced on Wednesday that his office had enough evidence to ask a judge to waive preliminary hearings and call for an immediate trial of [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old and abused his office by calling the police to intervene on her behalf after she was detained for petty theft in May."

New York Times: "Military discussions between North and South Korea ended on Wednesday with no improvement in their badly strained relations and no agreement about whether to hold more substantive talks in the future. A Defense Ministry official in Seoul said the talks ended abruptly at 2:30 p.m. when the North Korean delegation 'unilaterally walked away from the table and out of the meeting room.'”

Reuters: "Armed pirates seized a U.S.-bound oil tanker carrying Kuwaiti crude off the coast of Oman, the ship's Greek manager said on Wednesday, in an area where Somali seaborne gangs operate."