When two White House aides last weekend stripped off their shirts for an afternoon of drinking with friends at a Georgetown bar, there was widespread agreement that it exposed something — beyond the pectorals of speechwriter Jon Favreau and press aide Tommy Vietor — about Washington in the age of Barack Obama.

There was no agreement about what that something was.

…

But some White House observers said the episode revealed something else: The Obama team needs to get an Evelyn Lieberman.

Lieberman made an unwanted cameo on the public stage during the Clinton years, when she became briefly famous as the White House staff member who tried to shoo Monica Lewinsky away from Bill Clinton after she noticed that the intern seemed to be “spending too much time around the West Wing.”

Lieberman ostentatiously failed in that mission. But among Clintonites she was celebrated as the person who usually succeeded in demanding that people who work at the White House not forget they are working at the White House — and comport themselves appropriately.

…

Favreau did not return a request for comment, and Vietor declined to discuss the incident. Both aides are well-liked by most colleagues and White House reporters, which may have limited the fallout, which was mostly limited to criticism from conservative websites.

…

Contrary to the original reports, the group was not playing beer pong. And their shirts were off because the group had gotten caught in a rainstorm before repairing to Old Glory in Georgetown.

via Are Obama staffers overexposed? – Marin Cogan and John F. Harris – POLITICO.com.

Oh there is agreement on what this reveals:

• One, Evelyn Lieberman was a failure at being a den mother. But someone around Capitol Hill thinks we should be paying some person like her to take a ruler to the knucles of anyone who works in the white house caught drinking, being shirtless, smoking cigars or all of the above.
• Two, some 20 something year old, single, shirtless dudes at what looks like a boring party, with a few women and some libations in 90 some degree weather is tantamount to a married dude getting a blow job from an intern in his office. Except it’s not, but it reminds you of that type of thing and is sort of in the same category of debauchery. Except it’s not.

So says Brietbart’s hit site by way of Mediaite. I’ll believe it when they show unedited video, show the faces of his questioners and the time leading up to and from his seeming flip off the handle. Elected Democrats, don’t be fooled. Breitbart got you with edited videos at ACORN. Tried to get you with Landrieu. Nothing he posts can be trusted.

UPDATE: To be clear. Not to say Etheridge is a good guy, but until they have a full video that shows the actions of Breitbart’s team prior to engagement with the congressman, I won’t believe their account. Breitbart’s intent is to provoke their subject, distort the reaction in the worst possible light, and Etheridge made it easy, but I can’t trust the edited videos.

UPDATE TWO: Etheridge apologizes. Regardless, Democrats are realizing that Breitbart is just trying to generate anti-progressive propaganda. Would be better to not get physical with one of Breitbart’s goof balls.

UPDATE THREE:Longer video has been posted and coupled with Etheridge’s apology is confirmation enough that the congressman is in the wrong. People can say full video doesn’t matter, but if someone invaded his space or threatened him prior to him pushing the young man, then it would change the circumstances of the video. Nothing that comes through Breitbart’s filter can be taken at face value because of his prior chop jobs on video. Regardless, the right thing to do from here on out: press charges, press charges, press charges. The video is the evidence, the congressman apologized for his actions, put him through the paces of justice. For Democrats, right thing to do politically is in their next caucus meetings have a discussion on how to and not to deal with a questioner on the street. Getting angry is fine, attacking someone unprovoked is not.

Props to Think Progress for flagging Governor Gary Herbert (R) and Senator Bob Bennett (R) still riding the drill baby drill wave 4 days ago:

“Why are we drilling in the middle of the ocean where there is extreme environmental risk when we could be meeting the demand for domestic production from on?shore development in areas with minimal environmental risk such as Utah?”

Here is what minimal environmental risk is:

The spill, in the well-to-do neighborhood surrounding Salt Lake’s largest park, was gushing 50 gallons of crude per minute when responders arrived in the morning.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that residents 3 miles away smelled oil at 4am, the spill was officially reported at 6:45am, and the pipe was successfully shut-off by 8am. By then the oil had reached Liberty Pond (shown above) and was reported flowing into the Jordan River.

“In Liberty Pond the geese were brown – they’re normally white – I’ve probably known those geese for years, because I’ve gone to that park all the time,” said Ashley Anderson, a local climate activist.

Anderson gave me this account of the ground-zero-like scene at Liberty park during the press conference. “There were 25 firetrucks and hazmat suits everywhere. It smelled like the inside of a garage with a diesel truck running. The air was pretty bad.”

Chevron officials told the media what had happened and promised to clean it up. “One resident had gathered up a bucket of rocks from the creek that were coated in oil. He brought them with him to the press conference and got in Chevron’s face, saying ‘you’re going to pay for all this.’ The Chevron spokesperson said ‘of course we are’.”

via Breaking: 400 barrel Oil Spill in Salt Lake City « It’s Getting Hot In Here.

Production of United States Mint American Eagle Silver Proof and Uncirculated Coins has been temporarily suspended because of unprecedented demand for American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. Currently, all available silver bullion blanks are being allocated to the American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Program, as the United States Mint is required by Public Law 99-61 to produce these coins “in quantities sufficient to meet public demand . . . .”

The United States Mint will resume the American Eagle Silver Proof and Uncirculated Coin Programs once sufficient inventories of silver bullion blanks can be acquired to meet market demand for all three American Eagle Silver Coin products.

Update: Due to the continued, sustained demand for American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins, 2009-dated American Eagle Silver Proof Coins will not be produced.

via U.S. Mint Online Product Catalog.

All the gold and silver anyone can buy is being bought.

Buffett emphasized the non-productive aspect of a gold standard for the USD in 1998 at Harvard:

“It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

via Warren Buffett – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Daniel Kahnemann, father of behavioral economics says that, below it, you have a greater chance of being miserable.

This is based on a survey of 600,000 Americans:

“Below 60,000 dollars a year, people are unhappy, and they get progressively unhappier the poorer they get. Above that, we get an absolutely flat line. I mean I’ve rarely seen lines so flat.”

“Clearly… money does not buy you experiential happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery,” he said. But the real trick, Kahneman said, is to spend time with people you like.

via Happiness Is Earning $60,000 A Year? » My Money Blog.

Now, i haven’t watched the video yet, but I would assume its 60K for every working adult in the household, not per household. I also wonder if this 60K number is adjusted for cost of living (I just was in NYC this past weekend and there, 60K ain’t jack, but in my hometown of Harrisburg its pretty damn good).

What. The. F*ck.

“Israel has targeted innocent civilians,” said the foreign ministry in Ankara. “It has shown yet again that it does not care about human lives or peace initiatives.”

Noting that the dawn raid occurred in international waters, Ankara hinted at demanding legal redress.

The Turks convened an emergency meeting of generals and security ministers and called off military exercises with Israel, as did Greece.

The United Nations security council was expected to meet last night in New York over the incident.

“I heard the ships were in international water. That is very bad,” said Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.

The Obama administration, while regretting the death toll, reserved judgment on apportioning blame.

“The United States is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy,” said White House spokesman William Burton.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, cancelled plans to visit Obama at the White House today.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, Israeli ambassadors were summoned in Stockholm, Madrid, and Athens, while Spain, holding the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, called a session of the EU’s political and security committee.

Foreign governments deplored the loss of life and voiced outrage at the Israeli conduct. But amid a propaganda war between the Israeli government press machine and pro-Palestinian lobbies over who started the fight and whether any of the activists on board were armed, they were also wary of going further than verbal condemnation.

The common response in Europe was to condemn what was seen as Israel’s disproportionate use of force. Even Germany, generally reluctant to criticize Israel because of the Holocaust, voiced horror at what Palestinian leaders dubbed a massacre.

via Gaza flotilla attack: world unites in condemnation of Israel’s actions | World news | The Guardian.

Cable news coverage, of course is on 24 hours, but only has enough time for one major story at a time.

Rand Paul was spooked by the Peacock after getting hammered by Maddow‘s rather simple question to Paul to state whether or not he would support the repeal of the 1964 Civil RIghts APreviewct.

Asked what reason the Paul camp gave for canceling, Fischer says the Meet crew was told “that he’s had a long week, he’s tired, and he’s very sorry and he needs to cancel.”

via The Plum Line – Rand Paul camp cancels Meet the Press because “he’s had a long week”.

Pure punk move.

For women who are under 40 who don’t exhibit risk factors for breast cancer, mammograms aren’t very effective at accurately diagnosing breast cancer. So it should be a no brainer to move the starting age for screening up to 40 from women who don’t exhibit risk factors for breast cancer, right? No. Apparently not.

For example, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, in November 2009, said women younger than 50 do not need routine mammography screening. Four days later, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that Pap smears for cervical cancer screening start at age 21 and continue every two years through age 29.

via amednews: Cancer screening updates leave doctors unclear about frequency (ACP annual meeting) :: May 17, 2010 … American Medical News.

The new recommendations came in 2009 amidst the health care debate and were rebuked firmly by Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius. Seems like politics leading policy now.

An unfortunate turn of politics as the reduction in unnecessary testing needs to be implemented to make health care more affordable. Sebelius’ stance has made that just about impossible for right sizing cancer screening coverage by demonizing the work of government funded public health scientists. Definitely not change you can believe in.

Philly schools find out Principals lack certification to be principals because a delinquent principal (LaGreta Brown) allowed racially charged violence against asian students to erupt in her school for days on end.

School officials in Philadelphia say 16 city principals lack proper state certification but won’t face any disciplinary action if they get up to date.

Officials at the School District of Philadelphia say the missing certifications were discovered following the resignation of the principal at a high school plagued by racially charged violence.

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman says the district failed to do its job monitoring certifications…

via District: 16 Philly principals lack credentials – CBS 21 News – Breaking news, sports and weather for the Harrisburg Pennsylvania area.

Brown was last seen still bungling the handling of the Black on Asian violence that had ravaged the community within South Philadelphia High School.

Hao Luu’s troubles began Dec. 2 when, Asian activists say, he was accosted in the hall of South Philadelphia High by a student who yanked the earphones out of his ears.

After school that day, Luu was followed by 10 to 15 students and beaten so badly that he vomited.

What followed over the next two months outraged Asian advocates: Luu was ordered transferred from the school, despite having won his case at a disciplinary hearing. He was accused of being in a gang, an allegation strongly denied by his family. At one point, officials accused Luu of taking part in a fight in 2008 – a time when he was living in Virginia, according to his family and supporters.

The case of Luu, a 17-year-old immigrant student from Vietnam, shines light on how the school district is handling students accused of playing a role in the violence that enveloped the school Dec. 3.

Yesterday, Luu’s grandmother Suong Nguyen testified to the School Reform Commission, seemingly stunned by how her grandson’s life has unfolded since Dec. 2. She was one of 19 to address the commission on the attacks on students at South Philadelphia High.

“Please, ladies and gentlemen,” she said tearfully, speaking through a translator, “reveal Hao’s case and help him clear from the wrongful accusations. . . . We would like to request for Hao’s reputation to be restored.”

She said that principal LaGreta Brown had promised to send a letter clearing Luu of any wrongdoing or gang affiliation, but that none had been received.

via Asians tell of anguish over S. Phila. attacks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/18/2010.

Gates touted possible treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during a meeting with the wives of servicemen at Fort Riley, Kansas, when one woman asked him to explain why chiropractic and acupuncture therapies were not covered under her military health care plan.

“We have an experimental unit … treating soldiers with PTS (post-traumatic stress) and using a number of unorthodox approaches, including aroma therapy, acupuncture, things like that, that really are getting some serious results, and so maybe we can throw that into the hopper as well,” Gates said.

via Pentagon tries aroma therapy to ease combat stress | Reuters.

Yes. Let’s use non-proven psuedo scientific garbage to treat real illnesses. Good idea. Except that it’s not.

It would be possible to build a 2,000-mile-long Berlin Wall, complete with watchtowers. But it would be stupid and counterproductive. The U.S.-Mexico relationship is vital, economically and politically, and the border has to be permeable enough to permit a massive legitimate daily flow of goods and people.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, who is seeking approval to sue the state to overturn the new law, told me on Monday that the only solution is comprehensive reform that provides a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already settled here, a legal way for temporary workers to come and go, and increased quotas for Mexicans who want to immigrate permanently.

via Eugene Robinson – Border security isn’t the problem.

The only real barrier to entry was prospects of finding employment. Creating a physical fence thousands of miles long always has been and always will be a stupid endeavor.

If Massey and the MHSA officials being probe are indicted, I want to find out how much the bribes were and compare those to the cost of the needed safety protocols that could have saved Upper Big Branch workers lives.

NPR News has learned that the Mine Safety and Health Administration is one subject of a federal criminal investigation surrounding the explosion of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia three weeks ago — a disaster that killed 29 miners. The probe also looks at Massey Energy, the owner of the mine.

Sources familiar with the investigation say the FBI is looking into possible bribery of employees of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency that inspects and regulates mining. The sources say FBI agents are also exploring potential criminal negligence on the part of Massey Energy, the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine.

via FBI Probing U.S. Officials And Massey, Owner Of W. Va. Mine Where 29 Died – The Two-Way – Breaking News, Analysis Blog : NPR.