Today, Louisiana 1976, HoosierDeb, dopper0189, sunspark says, vcmvo2, YatPundit and ItsJessMe scoured through 24 hours' worth of diaries to find these gems for you. Please take the time to read them and comment in them to let the diarists know that you appreciate the time they took to share their thoughts with the community.

• The Gulf oil spill suddenly hit close to home when blueocean was preparing lunch yesterday: Seeing the future in my freezer. (ItsJessMe)
• Continuing an on-going horror story, Nmoderation writes more on the "puppy mill" scandal in North Carolina in Dog Farming in North Carolina. (vcmvo2)
• undead peasant vents about recent changes imposed on Wal-Mart employees, who are Working for the "Corporate Death Star". (ItsJessMe)
• In a short but provocative diary, cabaretic discovers small unexpected rebellions that leave people Plain on the Outside, Fancy Underneath. (sunspark says)
• Dr Teeth describes The Four Worst Concepts We Still Follow. (Alfonso Nevarez)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 6, 2010.

gizmo59 has Top Comments (7-8-2010) - Alliance Defense Fund Edition.

Today, Louisiana 1976, HoosierDeb, dopper0189, sunspark says, vcmvo2, YatPundit and ItsJessMe scoured through 24 hours' worth of diaries to find these gems for you. Please take the time to read them and comment in them to let the diarists know that you appreciate the time they took to share their thoughts with the community.

• The Gulf oil spill suddenly hit close to home when blueocean was preparing lunch yesterday: Seeing the future in my freezer. (ItsJessMe)
• Continuing an on-going horror story, Nmoderation writes more on the "puppy mill" scandal in North Carolina in Dog Farming in North Carolina. (vcmvo2)
• undead peasant vents about recent changes imposed on Wal-Mart employees, who are Working for the "Corporate Death Star". (ItsJessMe)
• In a short but provocative diary, cabaretic discovers small unexpected rebellions that leave people Plain on the Outside, Fancy Underneath. (sunspark says)
• Dr Teeth describes The Four Worst Concepts We Still Follow. (Alfonso Nevarez)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 6, 2010.

gizmo59 has Top Comments (7-8-2010) - Alliance Defense Fund Edition.

While you read this, your humble curator of the Wrap will be celebrating the boy child's 9th birthday at Dodger Stadium, watching the Los Angeles Dodgers beat a certain team from the north side of Chicago favored by a certain founder of this blog.

But that doesn't mean we go Wrapless on this Thursday. Not when even the House of Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk is in deep doo-doo in the Land of Lincoln. Not when leading Colorado Republican candidates are sprinting from the chairman of their party. And not when a Democrat is running for Congress on the promise of getting the mean old government off of Wall Street's back.

All that (and more!) in the Thursday edition of the Wrap...

THE U.S. SENATE

CO-Sen: Norton hits her stride...(running away from Steele)
What if you threw a party, and no one wanted to come? Embattled RNC chairman Michael Steele found out today, when he went to open a new GOP Victory office in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He invited both gubernatorial frontrunner Scott McInnis and NRSC Senate darling Jane Norton. Both had pressing laundry concerns, or something else on their calendars, that prevented them from participating with Steele. Norton did announce raising a monster sum this week of just under a million dollars for the quarter, which might signal that reports of her political demise might be at least slightly premature.

FL-Sen: Jeff Greene staffs up, and hangs out with...LiLo?!
If earning your fortune profitting off of the housing crisis and supporting Republican candidates (in this election cycle!) doesn't seal the fate of nouveau Democrat Jeff Greene, then damned well ought to do so. Apparently, there are photos circulating of Greene revelling in the Caribbean on New Years Eve with none other than Lindsay Lohan. Seriously.

In other news, the uber-wealthy Greene continues to staff up. It looks like Greene will hire strategist Jessica van Denberg, who is a veteran of the campaigns of Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

THE U.S. HOUSE

NY-14: Debate charges fly in bizarre Dem primary
Two stories out today draw attention to the deeply strange Democratic primary in Manhattan between incumbent Carolyn Maloney and challenger Reshma Saujani. The crew at WaPo profiled Saujani today, highlighting something that folks like DavidNYC have noted for months: she is running as the candidate who will have Wall Street's back in Congress. One might think that such a strategy would be political suicide, but Saujani is banking on it working in the very well-off 14th district. Saujani has been eager to share the stage with the incumbent, and her eagerness has apparently extended to accepting debate invitations from Maloney that evidently did not exist. Saujani sent out a press release announcing that Maloney had agreed to a debate. Team Maloney immediately countered that no such acceptance was made.

RI-01: Loughlin latest to latch onto Arizona law as lifeline
Who knew that blaming the brown folks played politically as far north as Rhode Island? GOP contender John Loughlin left the Northeast for a campaign trip...to Arizona. There, he took a helicopter tour of the desert and walked the border. Upon his return, he loudly criticized the Obama administration's decision to file a federal lawsuit against Arizona's controversial SB 1070. Loughlin faces token opposition in the GOP primary, which leads me to presume that he went the full Minuteman on this issue to attract the attention (and the dollars) of national Republicans in this open-seat race to replace the retiring Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES

CA-Gov: Brown rips Whitman for immigration reversal
As I noted earlier today, Meg Whitman has been sprinting away from her party's Minuteman-esque positions on immigration (which she clearly flirted with during the GOP primary). Today, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown decided to call her on it. Brown appeared with a dozen leading Latino political leaders, several of whom offered their endorsements. The line of the day goes to Congressman Xavier Becerra, who noted that:

"Jerry Brown broke bread with Cesar Chavez. His opponent breaks bread with Pete Wilson."

CO-Gov: Maes' fundraising circling the drain in gubernatorial bid
Apparently, a convention endorsement doesn't always translate to campaign momentum. Dan Maes' victory in the GOP convention over frontrunner Scott McInnis seemed to be a big boost for the underdog, but things since then have stifled any notion of momentum. Not only did he get hit with a record fine earlier in this week for campaign violation, but the Maes campaign also released campaign finance figures that...well...won't cover the fine he received from the Secretary of State. Maes only raised $32K in the past fundraising period, and is sitting on just over twenty grand.

FL-Gov: Gazillionaire challenges "millionaire's amendment"
Uber-wealthy hospital magnate Rick Scott is defending the Bill of Rights, dammit. But, before the ACLU gets ready to bestow him with an award, the "free speech" he is defending is his right to grossly outspend his rival for the GOP nomination, Bill McCollum. Scott is headed to court in order to block the state's "millionaire's amendment", which grants opponents of self-funding candidates a state-financed dollar for every dollar the self-funder spends above a predetermined limit ($24.9 million). Scott clearly fears for American democracy if he can't outspend McCollum by a eight figures. Inspirational, I think we can all agree. Alas, given court precedents in other cases, Scott is favored to win his case.

THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA

The House of Ras checks out two high-profile Senate races. They go according to Ras-sie form in the Sunshine State, where they have Marco Rubio out in front. But even the crew at Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk has taken a hit in recent weeks. If Giannoulias is beating Kirk in a Rasmussen poll, then times must be tough for Team Kirk...

FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 36%, Charlie Crist (I) 34%, Kendrick Meek (D) 15%
FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 37%, Charlie Crist (I) 33%, Jeff Greene (D) 18%
IL-Sen: Alexi Giannoulias (D) 40%, Mark Kirk (R) 39%,

While you read this, your humble curator of the Wrap will be celebrating the boy child's 9th birthday at Dodger Stadium, watching the Los Angeles Dodgers beat a certain team from the north side of Chicago favored by a certain founder of this blog.

But that doesn't mean we go Wrapless on this Thursday. Not when even the House of Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk is in deep doo-doo in the Land of Lincoln. Not when leading Colorado Republican candidates are sprinting from the chairman of their party. And not when a Democrat is running for Congress on the promise of getting the mean old government off of Wall Street's back.

All that (and more!) in the Thursday edition of the Wrap...

THE U.S. SENATE

CO-Sen: Norton hits her stride...(running away from Steele)
What if you threw a party, and no one wanted to come? Embattled RNC chairman Michael Steele found out today, when he went to open a new GOP Victory office in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He invited both gubernatorial frontrunner Scott McInnis and NRSC Senate darling Jane Norton. Both had pressing laundry concerns, or something else on their calendars, that prevented them from participating with Steele. Norton did announce raising a monster sum this week of just under a million dollars for the quarter, which might signal that reports of her political demise might be at least slightly premature.

FL-Sen: Jeff Greene staffs up, and hangs out with...LiLo?!
If earning your fortune profitting off of the housing crisis and supporting Republican candidates (in this election cycle!) doesn't seal the fate of nouveau Democrat Jeff Greene, then damned well ought to do so. Apparently, there are photos circulating of Greene revelling in the Caribbean on New Years Eve with none other than Lindsay Lohan. Seriously.

In other news, the uber-wealthy Greene continues to staff up. It looks like Greene will hire strategist Jessica van Denberg, who is a veteran of the campaigns of Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

THE U.S. HOUSE

NY-14: Debate charges fly in bizarre Dem primary
Two stories out today draw attention to the deeply strange Democratic primary in Manhattan between incumbent Carolyn Maloney and challenger Reshma Saujani. The crew at WaPo profiled Saujani today, highlighting something that folks like DavidNYC have noted for months: she is running as the candidate who will have Wall Street's back in Congress. One might think that such a strategy would be political suicide, but Saujani is banking on it working in the very well-off 14th district. Saujani has been eager to share the stage with the incumbent, and her eagerness has apparently extended to accepting debate invitations from Maloney that evidently did not exist. Saujani sent out a press release announcing that Maloney had agreed to a debate. Team Maloney immediately countered that no such acceptance was made.

RI-01: Loughlin latest to latch onto Arizona law as lifeline
Who knew that blaming the brown folks played politically as far north as Rhode Island? GOP contender John Loughlin left the Northeast for a campaign trip...to Arizona. There, he took a helicopter tour of the desert and walked the border. Upon his return, he loudly criticized the Obama administration's decision to file a federal lawsuit against Arizona's controversial SB 1070. Loughlin faces token opposition in the GOP primary, which leads me to presume that he went the full Minuteman on this issue to attract the attention (and the dollars) of national Republicans in this open-seat race to replace the retiring Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES

CA-Gov: Brown rips Whitman for immigration reversal
As I noted earlier today, Meg Whitman has been sprinting away from her party's Minuteman-esque positions on immigration (which she clearly flirted with during the GOP primary). Today, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown decided to call her on it. Brown appeared with a dozen leading Latino political leaders, several of whom offered their endorsements. The line of the day goes to Congressman Xavier Becerra, who noted that:

"Jerry Brown broke bread with Cesar Chavez. His opponent breaks bread with Pete Wilson."

CO-Gov: Maes' fundraising circling the drain in gubernatorial bid
Apparently, a convention endorsement doesn't always translate to campaign momentum. Dan Maes' victory in the GOP convention over frontrunner Scott McInnis seemed to be a big boost for the underdog, but things since then have stifled any notion of momentum. Not only did he get hit with a record fine earlier in this week for campaign violation, but the Maes campaign also released campaign finance figures that...well...won't cover the fine he received from the Secretary of State. Maes only raised $32K in the past fundraising period, and is sitting on just over twenty grand.

FL-Gov: Gazillionaire challenges "millionaire's amendment"
Uber-wealthy hospital magnate Rick Scott is defending the Bill of Rights, dammit. But, before the ACLU gets ready to bestow him with an award, the "free speech" he is defending is his right to grossly outspend his rival for the GOP nomination, Bill McCollum. Scott is headed to court in order to block the state's "millionaire's amendment", which grants opponents of self-funding candidates a state-financed dollar for every dollar the self-funder spends above a predetermined limit ($24.9 million). Scott clearly fears for American democracy if he can't outspend McCollum by a eight figures. Inspirational, I think we can all agree. Alas, given court precedents in other cases, Scott is favored to win his case.

THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA

The House of Ras checks out two high-profile Senate races. They go according to Ras-sie form in the Sunshine State, where they have Marco Rubio out in front. But even the crew at Ras has to admit that Mark Kirk has taken a hit in recent weeks. If Giannoulias is beating Kirk in a Rasmussen poll, then times must be tough for Team Kirk...

FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 36%, Charlie Crist (I) 34%, Kendrick Meek (D) 15%
FL-Sen: Marco Rubio (R) 37%, Charlie Crist (I) 33%, Jeff Greene (D) 18%
IL-Sen: Alexi Giannoulias (D) 40%, Mark Kirk (R) 39%,

Via Think Progress, this story from the Colorado Springs Gazette about how the fight against inane insurance company bureaucracy isn't going to end any time soon.

La Rosa Carrington has more than enough to worry about. She’s a single mother with two teenage daughters, she’s fighting a type of leukemia that requires five days of chemo a month for four months, and she lost her job in May.

So the last thing she needed was news that her health insurance benefits would be terminated because she hadn’t paid her premium in full. The shortfall? One penny.

She kept her insurance after losing her job using COBRA, but hadn't yet received notification of what her new monthly payment would be. Worried about what would happen if she paid late, she calculated what the payment would be and sent it in on time, but short one cent. Which was enough for Discovery Benefits to drop her.

Carrington said she talked twice to a customer service representative, who told her it was policy that the penny be received before the benefits could be reinstated. Write a check or send a money order, Carrington said the representative told her.

“‘I’m in the hospital receiving chemotherapy; I can’t get you a money order,’” Carrington said she told the rep. “If this is how you treat people, you need spiritual training.”

When she threatened to go to the media, Carrington says, a supervisor relented. Discovery Benefits says it was all a rounding error, and that “our staff member reached out to her supervisor and immediately received approval to pay the penny ... due to the rounding difference.” One would think that the staff member who found the rounding difference of one penny when the payment was made would have taken these steps. Or the customer service representative, the first time Carrington called.

There are, indeed, others who have had the penny-owed experience, said June Harryman, supervisory benefits adviser for the federal Employee Benefits Security Administration regional office in Kansas City.

“We’ve seen it before,” said Harryman, whose agency works on COBRA issues. “It’s not the first, and it won’t be the last.”

You shouldn't have to go to the media in order to get an insurance company to do the right thing, but chances are that's going to have to be the route many patients have to take until all the provisions of the Affordable Care Act kick in. Even then, patients will have to be informed, educated, and vigilant. If after all the bad press the industry has received in the past year over practices like this, an insurer would still revoke a cancer patient's insurance over a penny, you can bet that it's going to take a lot of vigilance to force them to comply with the letter of the law.

If you look at Siena Research Institutes's well publicized list of best presidents, you'll find two names perched together -- Woodrow Wilson at #8 and Harry Truman at #9. For a lot of reasons, it would be easy to rank Wilson higher or Truman lower. Wilson's presidency helped shape America at a critical time, and many of the institutions he created and compromises he made are still with us today. On the other hand, Truman's star has gone up and down several times over the decades since his presidency, and his actions often look like weak tea in the shadow of FDR. Through the years, Truman has always rated just behind Wilson in the Siena chart.

But if you left it up to me, Wilson would drop many slots down the chart and Truman would bob near the top. And there's one simple reason.

Despite having been elected with the greatest number of African-American votes to come to a Democrat since the Civil War, Wilson not only allowed but encouraged segregation. Under his administration federal offices became strictly divided by race -- even if that meant constructing a wall across a room to separate black and white federal workers. African Americans in senior positions were demoted or dismissed. Wilson also re-segregated the armed forces, putting black soldiers together into all-black units under the command of a white officer, and setting back decades of progress.

On the other hand, there is Executive Order 9981. In 1947, a civil rights commission appointed by Harry Truman recommended that the nation immediately adopt legislation to ensure fair employment practices within the government, including the armed forces. Truman in turn presented these findings to Congress -- where the result was threats of filibuster of any such legislation by southern senators. As an alternative, one senator introduced legislation that would have allowed members of the military to option out of segregated units.

Truman saw that the legislation wasn't coming any time soon. So in 1948, he signed this simple order.

1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.

This was six years before Brown v. Board of Education. Twelve years before the lunch counter sit-ins. Fifteen years before King's "I have a dream" speech. In 1948, there were large areas of the country where African Americans were restricted in where they could work, where they could eat, where they could live. Prominent generals within the Army declared that integration was "offensive" to the American public. There were claims that it would weaken unit cohesion and efficiency.

Within the military there was as much foot dragging as possible. Resistance only increased with the beginning of the Korean War, with military leaders claiming that desegregation was a distraction. It took three years before the military commission completed its plan, and for the next two decades there were assignments in the military still effectively limited by race. But by the end of the Korean War, segregated America had a integrated military -- no matter how offensive some might have found it.

Truman did not ask permission. He did not tell his commanders to take a poll. He understood that there was clear injustice in the system and he acted to correct it. That goes a long way toward earning him a spot among America's greatest presidents.

It would be nice to think we had another.

If you look at Siena Research Institutes's well publicized list of best presidents, you'll find two names perched together -- Woodrow Wilson at #8 and Harry Truman at #9. For a lot of reasons, it would be easy to rank Wilson higher or Truman lower. Wilson's presidency helped shape America at a critical time, and many of the institutions he created and compromises he made are still with us today. On the other hand, Truman's star has gone up and down several times over the decades since his presidency, and his actions often look like weak tea in the shadow of FDR. Through the years, Truman has always rated just behind Wilson in the Siena chart.

But if you left it up to me, Wilson would drop many slots down the chart and Truman would bob near the top. And there's one simple reason.

Despite having been elected with the greatest number of African-American votes to come to a Democrat since the Civil War, Wilson not only allowed but encouraged segregation. Under his administration federal offices became strictly divided by race -- even if that meant constructing a wall across a room to separate black and white federal workers. African Americans in senior positions were demoted or dismissed. Wilson also re-segregated the armed forces, putting black soldiers together into all-black units under the command of a white officer, and setting back decades of progress.

On the other hand, there is Executive Order 9981. In 1947, a civil rights commission appointed by Harry Truman recommended that the nation immediately adopt legislation to ensure fair employment practices within the government, including the armed forces. Truman in turn presented these findings to Congress -- where the result was threats of filibuster of any such legislation by southern senators. As an alternative, one senator introduced legislation that would have allowed members of the military to option out of segregated units.

Truman saw that the legislation wasn't coming any time soon. So in 1948, he signed this simple order.

1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.

This was six years before Brown v. Board of Education. Twelve years before the lunch counter sit-ins. Fifteen years before King's "I have a dream" speech. In 1948, there were large areas of the country where African Americans were restricted in where they could work, where they could eat, where they could live. Prominent generals within the Army declared that integration was "offensive" to the American public. There were claims that it would weaken unit cohesion and efficiency.

Within the military there was as much foot dragging as possible. Resistance only increased with the beginning of the Korean War, with military leaders claiming that desegregation was a distraction. It took three years before the military commission completed its plan, and for the next two decades there were assignments in the military still effectively limited by race. But by the end of the Korean War, segregated America had a integrated military -- no matter how offensive some might have found it.

Truman did not ask permission. He did not tell his commanders to take a poll. He understood that there was clear injustice in the system and he acted to correct it. That goes a long way toward earning him a spot among America's greatest presidents.

It would be nice to think we had another.

There's some really crazy happening in the Republican primaries everywhere this season, but when you toss in some Tom Tancredo, the crazy just
can't be topped:

>

He rattles off all of the challenges the nation has faced, the Civil War, the cold war, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the 9/11 attacks, and then concludes, at about the 1:40 mark:

But I firmly believe this, it's not just you know a dramatic statement that a person would make just to get press or something, to get ink, but I believe this with all of my heart--that the greatest threat to the United States today, the greatest threat to our liberty, the greatest threat to the Constitution of the United States, the greatest threat to our way of life, everything we believe in, the greatest threat to the country that was put together by the founding fathers, is the guy that's in the White House today.

And the (small) crowd goes wild.

The greatest threat to America's future is precisely what Tom Tancredo and his ilk are trying to achieve--a frothed up, dangerous, extremist  Right. Coming from someone who took the oath of office, it's bordering on treason. And it's the new Republican way, if you can judge by Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, or Ken Buck.

Republican Mike Weinstein is running for Florida House, District 19. If you didn't know that, you won't forget after watching this.

Republican Mike Weinstein is running for Florida House, District 19. If you didn't know that, you won't forget after watching this.