Cash For Clunkers Passes In The Senate

She voted no... again

Probably one of the most successful and popular parts of the stimulus spending, Cash For Clunkers, did so well that the House extended it last week. Although several of the more reactionary Democrats in the Senate crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP against it-- especially twittering idiot Claire McCaskill (MO) and Ben Nelson (NE) who has voted significantly more with the Republicans on substantive issues than with the Democrats since Obama has become president-- the Democrats picked up half a dozen Republicans-- Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), Corker (TN), Alexander (TN), Voinovich (OH) and Bond (MO)-- so they didn't need the right-wing Democrats. It passed 60-37 after Democrats beat back 5 obstructionist, time-wasting amendments by Kyl, Gregg, Coburn, Isakson and Vitter.

Obama thanked the Senate for their fast and positive action on the bill:

“I want to thank the United States Senate for acting in a bipartisan way to use Recovery Act funds to extend the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program. Now, more American consumers will have the chance to purchase newer, more fuel efficient cars and the American economy will continue to get a much-needed boost. ‘Cash for Clunkers’ has been a proven success: the initial transactions are generating a more than 50% increase in fuel economy; they are generating $700 to $1000 in annual savings for consumers in reduced gas costs alone; and they are getting the oldest, dirtiest and most air polluting trucks and SUVs off the road for good. Businesses across the country – from small auto dealerships and suppliers to large auto manufacturers – are putting people back to work as a result of this program. I want to thank Leader Reid and the members of the Senate who moved quickly to extend a program that benefits our recovery and our auto industry while reducing our economy’s dependence on oil.”

This is one the Republicans dared not stop. And while Miss McConnell voted no, he first guaranteed Harry Reid that he'd let enough Republicans vote for it to more than make up for a handful of Democratic defections. This one was too popular with car dealers-- Republican car dealers-- and with the car buying public and with Republican legislators in car building districts, to obstruct with too much effect. Instead they have their minds set on a much grander goal: wrecking Obama's health care initiative, no matter what the cost. David Sirota summed up their appeal beautifully:

I know I should be mortified by the lobbyist-organized mobs of angry Brooks Brothers mannequins who are now making headlines by shutting down congressional town hall meetings. I know I should be despondent during this, the Khaki Pants Offensive in the Great American Health Care and Tax War. And yet, I'm euphorically repeating one word over and over again with a big grin on my face.

Finally.

Finally, there's no pretense. Finally, the Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd's ugliest traits are there for all to behold.

The group's core gripe is summarized in a letter I received that denounces a proposed surtax on the wealthy and corporations to pay for universal health care.

...What They Will Scream: We can't raise business taxes, because American businesses already pay excessively high taxes!

What You Should Say: Here's the smallest violin in the world playing for the businesses. The Government Accountability Office reports that most U.S. corporations pay zero federal income tax. Additionally, as even the Bush Treasury Department admitted, America's effective corporate tax rate is the third lowest in the industrialized world.

What They Will Scream: But the rich still "pay close to 60 percent of this nation's taxes!"

What You Should Say: Such statistics refer only to the federal income tax. When considering all of "this nation's taxes" including payroll, state and local levies, the top 5 percent pay just 38.5 percent of the taxes.

What They Will Scream: But 38.5 percent is disproportionately high! See? You've proved that the rich "contribute more than their share" of taxes!

What You Should Say: Actually, they are paying almost exactly "their share." According to the data, the wealthiest 5 percent of America pays 38.5 percent of the total taxes precisely because they make just about that share-- a whopping 36.5 percent!-- of total national income. Asking these folks to pay slightly more in taxes-- and still less than they did during the go-go 1990s-- is hardly extreme.

Senate, Clunkers, Birthers, Missouri And Unintelligent Design

Will Missouri imbecile tweet up a bipartisan solution to birtherism?

This morning Politico named 7 of the 9 freshman and sophomore Democrats, all "centrists," who are doing the foot-dragging on health care reform: Kay Hagan (NC), Claire McCaskill (MO), Jim Webb (VA), Mark Begich (AK), Mark Warner (VA), Amy Klobuchar (MN), and Michael Bennet (CO). They don't seem to care what's in the bill, so long as it can be labeled "bipartisan." If that were the attitude of more worthy representatives of the electorate of yore, we would still be an English colony. Or we'd still be cursed with slavery. We certainly wouldn't have women or minorities or poor people voting. And there would be no Social Security, no minimum wage and certainly no Medicare.

Also this morning, the pathetic, anti-democratic, bribe-ridden and bedraggled Senate-- which should never have been created and certainly should be abolished-- grumpily reached an agreement regarding the House's extension of the Cash For Clunkers program, which is wildly popular among Americans and-- for that reason-- extremely disliked by Republicans and a handful of confused Democrats bipartisans (led by twittering idiot Claire McCaskill).

The Senate has cleared the way for a vote extending the "cash-for-clunkers" program, which offers car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 for trading in their gas-guzzlers for new, higher-mileage models, setting aside Republican opposition to the plan.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday he had several very good conversations with Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and there is "a significant majority" that wants to move forward with the legislation.

Reid said the Senate would have to stay in session on Friday if lawmakers wanted to make changes to the bill.

Reid had said on Tuesday that he had the votes to pass a $2 billion extension already approved by the House. The funding would triple the cost of $1 billion rebate program and give as many as a half-million more Americans the chance to grab the new car incentives through September.

Car companies have credited the clunkers program with driving up sales in late July. Most consumers are buying smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles under the program, according to a list of the top-10 selling cars released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

I have no idea how the dull-witted McCaskill plans to vote on this-- presumably with the Republicans. She probably won't get much attention back in Missouri one way or the other since the whole state seems obsessed with the birther scandal manufactured by right-wing opponents of Obama's agenda. Roy Blunt, of course, is leading the charge. What a team he and Claire would make in the Senate! Perhaps, instead of sticking to facts, they could come up with a bipartisan approach to birtherism-- since so many (crazy and delusional) people believe so, so, so strongly that Obama was born in either Kenya, Indonesia, or Mexico (why not North Korea?) The real facts are up on Salon today. But I bet Blunt and McCaskill could come up with a new set of factoids-- tweet-sized, like their brains-- that all the folks who listen to Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs will believe.

Myth 1: Obama wasn't born in the U.S.

This is the big one. It may also be the most easily refuted. First of all, during the presidential campaign, Obama released a certification of live birth, which is the official document you get if you ask Hawaii for a copy of your birth certificate. There are allegations that what Obama released is a forgery, but state officials have repeatedly affirmed its authenticity and said they've checked it against the original record and that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.

If that wasn't enough, two Hawaiian newspapers carried announcements of Obama's birth in August 1961. (Read the Honolulu Advertiser's item from Aug. 13, 1961, nine days after Obama's birth, here.) The traditional joke that Birther debunkers make is that his grandparents must have placed those announcements because they knew that he'd want to run for president nearly five decades later. The truth, though, is that the notices are even stronger pieces of evidence than that. Obama's family didn't place them-- Hawaii did, as it does for all births. The announcements were based on official records sent to the papers by the state's Department of Health.

Myth 2: Obama can't be president because his father was a British citizen

Some of the Birthers-- like de facto leader Orly Taitz-- believe that Obama wouldn't be eligible for the presidency even if he were born in the U.S. That's because, in their infinite wisdom, the Founding Fathers included in the Constitution a fair amount of phrases they never really bothered to define. One of those is this explanation of who can be president: "No person except a natural born citizen."

The Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the question of what "natural born citizen" means. So the Birthers have simply settled on their own definition-- someone born to two citizen parents-- and found a source,"The Law of Nations," a 1758 book by the Swiss philosopher Emerich de Vattel, to back them up.

There are a couple of problems with this. Most important, Obama isn't the first president with a non-citizen parent: Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president, was. His father was from Ireland and apparently did not become a U.S. citizen until more than 10 years after the future president's birth.

Plus, even if the Founding Fathers did rely on Vattel as much as the Birthers say-- always a dubious proposition-- Swiss philosophy books aren't legal precedent in the United States. British common law is. And in 1898, in the case of U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court looked into the meaning of "natural born" in the common law and concluded that a non-citizen's mere presence in the U.S. is enough to make their child, if born here, a natural-born citizen.

Myth 3: A Kenyan birth certificate for Obama, showing he was born in Mombasa, has been discovered

It's a hoax. Once Taitz released the document, purportedly a certified copy of a Kenyan birth certificate, it took less than two days for Internet sleuths to prove that it had been forged.

The first signs were a couple of small but revealing errors: The certification is dated Feb. 17, 1964, when newly independent Kenya was known as the Dominion of Kenya. It wouldn't start calling itself the Republic of Kenya until December of that year-- but the document refers to the republic. Additionally, the document's header refers to "Coast Province," but as two British professors who are experts in Kenyan history pointed out to Salon, at the time the certificate was supposedly produced, the country's provinces were referred to as regions.

For the final nail in this myth's coffin, one particularly enterprising man, Steve Eddy, located the original Australian document on which the Kenyan certificate was apparently based. The two documents share several identical numbers, including the page and the book of records in which they can be found, and minor changes were made to the names of the registrars responsible for the Australian copy. Taitz claims the Australian certificate "was created to try to discredit my efforts" but it was in fact available on the Internet as far back as 2007.

Myth 4: Obama's grandmother said he was born in Kenya

There's a kernel of truth to this one. In an interview with a street preacher named Ron McRae, Sarah Obama, the second wife of the president's grandfather, did say she was there, in Kenya, for her grandson's birth.

Unfortunately for the Birthers, it was the result of a miscommunication-- or perhaps a mistranslation-- and as soon as McRae started pressing the issue, Obama's family realized what had happened and corrected him. Most Birthers simply ignore the corrections, excising them from audio and transcripts of the conversation posted online. McRae just believes it's part of the conspiracy and that Obama's younger relatives were coached to hide the truth.
The full audio can be downloaded here.

Myth 5: Hawaii allows parents to get birth certificates for their foreign-born children

This one is actually true-- just not in the way the Birthers think. Here's their position, as outlined by World Net Daily, a conservative news site that's become the unofficial Birther Web headquarters: "The 'Certification of Live Birth' posted online and widely touted as 'Obama's birth certificate' does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same 'short-form' document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii."

Children not born in Hawaii can get a birth document from the state. But it won't say they were born in Hawaii, as Obama's does.

"If you were born in Bali, for example, you could get a certificate from the state of Hawaii saying you were born in Bali," Janice Okubo, the director of communications for the state Department of Health, told the Washington Independent's David Weigel recently. "You could not get a certificate saying you were born in Honolulu. The state has to verify a fact like that for it to appear on the certificate."

Myth 6: Obama traveled to Pakistan using an Indonesian passport

When the Birthers tire of arguing that Obama wasn't born in the U.S., they take another tack. At some point during the time he spent in Indonesia growing up, they say, Obama must have taken Indonesian citizenship or renounced his American citizenship or both. As proof, they cite the trip he took to Pakistan in 1981 with a friend from college, and say the U.S. government had issued a ban on travel by its citizens to the country.

Thing is, there was no travel ban. "We have no record of any travel ban between America and Pakistan during that period or since," a State Department spokesman told Weigel. And FactCheck.org's Brooks Jackson notes that the New York Times printed an article about travel to Pakistan on June 14, 1981, which said Americans just needed a visa to travel there. Two months later, the U.S. consul general in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote to the Times to say he'd "welcome an influx of Americans."

Myth 7: Obama hasn't released his birth certificate

Here, we'll admit, Uncle Floyd has a point-- at least a limited one. Strictly speaking, what Obama's campaign released wasn't called a birth certificate; it's a certification of live birth. But there's no functional difference between the two: Ask Hawaii for your birth certificate, and you'll get the certification of live birth back.

"Our Certificate of Live Birth is the standard form, which was modeled after national standards that are acceptable by federal agencies and organizations," Okubo told the Honolulu Advertiser. "With that form, you can get your passport or your soccer registration or your driver's license."

There's been some confusion about whether the original even still exists, but that's now been cleared up. Okubo told the Advertiser that in 2001 the state's paper documents were put into an electronic form, but "any paper data prior to that still exists ... we have backups for all of our backups."

Myth 8:  If Obama would just release his birth certificate, he could end all this

So why hasn't the state of Hawaii released the original paper document? By law, the state can't release Obama's birth records without his OK. State law says that the document can only be released to or "inspect[ed]" by someone with a "direct and tangible" interest. (Though, again, except for "permit[ting] inspection," the law refers to the release of copies and certified copies, not the original record.)

But let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Obama could get the original paper document out of its undisclosed Hawaiian location and show it to reporters. Shouldn't he? Maybe not. He's already released a completely legal form of proof of his birthplace; to cave in to the Birthers' demands now would legitimize them. It would also likely lead to a wave of stories asking why the change in stance had happened, and what had taken so long.

The truth is that it was the original release of the certification of live birth that kicked off the Birther movement to begin with. And some of its leaders wouldn't cease their quest even if they were given the original birth certificate-- along with a video showing Obama being born, lei already around his neck.
Conspiracy theorists cling to their theories in the face of all evidence, and in this case the groundwork for disputing an original birth certificate has already been laid. In October of 2008, Rush Limbaugh suggested that Obama's trip to Hawaii to see his dying grandmother might really have been made in order to do some quick forgery. Limbaugh's fellow talk radio host Michael Savage jumped on that bandwagon, too.

Plus, the Birthers have a long list of other demands. Here's one sent out by Gary Kreep, who's representing Alan Keyes in his lawsuit challenging Obama's eligibility. Read it, and abandon all hope:
• Actual long-form birth certificate (NOT an easily-forged electronic copy of a short-form document that is not even officially accepted in Hawaii)
• Passport files
• University of Chicago Law School scholarly articles
• Harvard Law Review articles
• Harvard Law School records
• Columbia University records
• Columbia University senior thesis, "Soviet Nuclear Disarmament"
• Occidental College records, including financial aid that he may have received
• Punahou School records, where Mr. Obama attended from the fifth grade until he finished high school
• Noelani Elementary School records, where Barack Obama attended kindergarten (according to the Hawaii Department of Education, students must submit a birth certificate to register -- but parents may bring a passport or student visa if the child is from a foreign country)
• Complete files and schedules of his years as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004
• Obama's client list from during his time in private practice with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard
• Illinois State Bar Association records
• Baptism records
• Obama/Dunham marriage license
• Obama/Dunham divorce documents
• Soetoro/Dunham marriage license
• Soetero/Dunham adoption records 

One of Charles Pierce's most salient points in Idiot America is that to far too many idiots it doesn't matter if something is objectively true or not; what matters is what people believe-- like in the case of fundamentalists being positive that men and dinosaurs co-existed because otherwise the Buy Bull might not be able to be taken literally. Result: jerks who think evolution and Intelligent Design should both be taught in science classes. In fact, if Claire McCaskill decides to tackle this one, she doesn't even have to cross the aisle. All she needs to do is ring up the Senate's stupidest Democrat, Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Watch:

Who Says The House Can't Move Fast When It's Important?

Nancy cracked the whip and Congress jumped! The Cash For Clunkers program was such an overwhelming success that it ran out of money this week. In order to make sure people who want to trade in their gas guzzling polluters for more energy efficient cars, the House immediately moved into action to suspend the rules and pass a supplemental $2 billion appropriations bill. According to the NY Times "The House shoved other business out of the way on its last day before the August recess to rush through a measure to address the cash shortage of the car program." It was all over and done by 1:30 this afternoon-- and it passed overwhelmingly, 316-109. 77 Republicans joined almost all the Democrats to pass the bill.

Needless to say, most of the America-Must-Fail Club crazies-- Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), lobbyist John Boehner (R-OH), Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL), Paul Broun (R-GA), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Charlie Dent (R-PA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA), Patty McHenry (R-NC), Mike Pence (R-IN), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Aaron Schock (R-IL), dirigible corruptionist Pete Sessions (R-TX), and John Shadegg (R-AZ)-- opposed the measure.

The Senate, which will be in session next week, will take up the program then. A spirited debate is likely, as some senators have said they will use the opportunity to push for tougher fuel-efficiency requirements. If the Senate does not go along with the House’s version, the House might have to return to work on a compromise.

Minutes after the House vote, President Obama praised the legislators for moving quickly. “We’re already seeing a dramatic increase in showroom traffic,” he said, adding that the program helps to reduce air pollution while helping car buyers.

The sudden legislative action was prompted by the overwhelming response to the program, formally known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, which its backers say has helped not only car buyers but the struggling automobile industry.

Earlier Friday, Robert Gibbs, the chief White House spokesman, offered assurances that the administration was looking for ways to continue the popular new program, which offers $3,500 to $4,500 for people who trade in an old car for a new one with higher fuel economy.

“If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend using this program, the program continues to run,” he said. “If you meet the requirements of the program, the certificates will be honored.”

...“Consumers have spoken with their wallets,” Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin of chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in urging quick passage.

The panel’s ranking Republican, Jerry Lewis of California, complained that Democrats, who have a 256-to-178 majority in the House, were rushing the measure through with too little thought,-- “shoveling another $2 billion out the door,” in his words.

Lewis, one of the most corrupt members of Congress in history, knows that if the process could have been slowed down for a week or two, there would have been tremendous opportunities for bribery for the kinds of congressmen who engage in those kinds of activities. Karina in Speaker Pelosi's office posted all the details of the program and why it was important to get this through before the break.

More than 200,000 cars have already been bought through the program, and it is expected to spur the sale of up to 800,000 more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, while stimulating the ailing auto industry and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The funds to immediately extend the “Cash For Clunkers” program are coming from a clean energy fund appropriated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be returned so as to further our nation’s long term clean energy and innovation goals.

President Obama, of course, was very enthusiastic and, sensing trouble from the House of Lords-- worthless Missouri imbecile Claire McCaskill has already tweeted she's against it-- issued this statement:

“I want to thank leaders in the House of Representatives for working quickly and in a bipartisan way to pass legislation that will use Recovery Act funds to keep “Cash for Clunkers” going. This program has been an overwhelming success, allowing consumers to trade in their less fuel efficient cars for a credit to buy more fuel efficient new models. It has given consumers a much needed break, provided the American auto industry an important boost, and is achieving environmental benefits well beyond what was originally anticipated. The program has proven to be a successful part of our economic recovery and will help lessen our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the quality of the air we breathe. I urge the Senate to act with the American consumers in mind to pass this important legislation.”

Obama should have been clearer; he didn't tell the senators how he wants them to act-- and many of them have every intention of acting very badly. McCain and DeMint, for example, have already said they intend to filibuster the bill and Dianne Feinstein sounds just as uninterested in seeing it pass.