Internal Monologue

This is pretty funny: JERUSALEM (AP) — The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday. Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu," he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel. I wonder if Hindu health officials want to re-name "mad cow disease".

Greenwald : (1) The idea that Specter is a "liberal" Republican or even a "moderate" reflects how far to the Right both the GOP and our overall political spectrum has shifted. Consider Specter’s most significant votes over the last eight years, ones cast in favor of such definitive right-wing measures as: the war on Iraq, the Military Commissions Act, Patriot Act renewal, confirmation of virtually every controversial Bush appointee, retroactive telecom immunity, warrantless eavesdropping expansions, and Bush tax cuts (several times). Time and again during the Bush era, Specter stood with Republicans on the most controversial and consequential issues. (2) Democrats will understandably celebrate today’s announcement, but beyond the questions of raw political power, it is mystifying why they would want to build their majority by embracing politicians who reject most of their ostensible views. Reports today suggest that Democratic officials promised Specter that the

John Cole : At this point, the GOP might want to re-introduce the Schiavo legislation, just replacing the name “Terri Schiavo” with Republican.

Just heard on NPR that Senator Specter (R-PA) is now Senator Specter (D-PA). This was a shrewd move on his part. He'll probably beat Toomey handily now. The Republicans really gave him no choice. Now Specter has no incentive to tack rightward, which is a good thing indeed. He may still he hard to bring aboard a progressive agenda, though. I haven't yet read any progressive blogosphere reaction; will do so soon. [I sent this from my iPhone, so please excuse any excessive brevity or typographical errors.] --Zachary Drake Update: Sullivan rounds up some reactions . Anonymous Liberal has a thought similar to mine: First, from a political perspective, instead of facing serious pressure from the Right (because of Toomey's primary challenge), he will now face serious pressure to move to the left on various issues. That's because he's now going to have to run in a Democratic primary, and though the party will do what it can to clear the field for him, he'll still

Most progressive organizations I know of are coalescing around voting "No" on all six ballot measures in California's May 19th special election. The Bay Area Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club is one such organization. Calitics is another. The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry is yet another (and their chart lists several other organizations also encouraging no votes, as well as some who are encouraging yes votes). I really think we need to get rid of the 2/3 budget requirement and Prop 13. Until those things are done, California will be hostage to Republican extremists and basically ungovernable.

Rick Perry, the Republican governor of Texas who recently had been flirting with secession , has decided to request help from the tyrannical federal government : SAN ANTONIO – Gov. Rick Perry has asked for 37,430 courses of anti-viral medicine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of the swine flu outbreak. What, the Lone Star State doesn't have it's own Center for Disease Control? Tsk tsk. I hope the folks down there see that being part of Obama's Socialist Tyranny of Mandatory Gay Marriage does come with some benefits.

Your party is rapidly dwindling to laughable insignificance . One thing you could do to lessen slightly my contempt for your party is to allow Sebelius' confirmation to go through. We're facing a potential flu pandemic without a Secretary of Health and Human Services, thanks to your obstruction. And Olympia Snowe (R-Maine): Bet you feel pretty stupid for cutting flu pandemic preparedness out of the stimulus bill. And conventional wisdom is that you're one of the moderates. Sigh. Republicans are human beings. I must keep reminding myself of that.