Judge Feldman’s 2009 stock holdings have just been released and, while he no longer held Transocean stock, Yahoo news is reporting that he was “heavily invested” in oil and gas stock. Further, many of the companies may benefit, either “directly or indirectly,” from his ruling.

So again, we have a right-wing Reagan appointee making legal decisions that he should have recused himself from and not a peep from the White House or anyone else in an official capacity. The administration’s only real effort so far has been to rewrite the ban in hopes of appeasing the judge (good luck) and filing an appeal. That’s not strategy but rather stupidity.

Here’s a tip for how Democrats should have been acting - pile onto the TV shows and control the narrative. Demand the Judge recuse himself and having failed at that, call for his impeachment. Of course, basic research ahead of the ruling should have been laid bare in the media before it even went to trial.

Once again a basic strategic failure means that the bad guys win and Dems have oil on their faces. Sad thing is - as much as we get used to such ineptitude - it didn’t have to be that way at all.

What does it all come down to? The judge believes that this moratorium is being applied in an unfair fashion without any evidence of danger. Of course, that does not mean there is or is not any danger from new drilling. Only that the evidence has not come to light, according to his reading. Apparently a new rig blowing up in the Gulf of Mexico is not enough to signal possible danger. Then there is the political commentary that sounds right out of the Republican playbook:

“The plaintiffs assert that they have suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm as a result of the moratorium. The Court agrees. Some of the plaintiffs’ contracts have been affected; the Court is persuaded that it is only a matter of time before more business and jobs and livelihoods will be lost. The defendants trivialize such losses by characterizing them as merely a small percentage of the drilling rigs affected, but it does not follow that this will somehow reduce the convincing harm suffered.”

Is it us or should legal decisions not be based solely on the merits of the law, rather than some arbitrary political doctrine. After all, the judge fails to take into account the fishermen and others who had their lives destroyed in this catastrophe. He goes on to write:

“The effect on employment, jobs, loss of domestic energy supplies caused by the moratorium as the plaintiffs (and other suppliers, and the rigs themselves) lose business, and the movement of the rigs to other sites around the world will clearly ripple throughout the economy in this region. This Court is persuaded that the public interest weighs in favor of granting a preliminary injunction. While a suspension of activities directed after a rational interpretation of the evidence could outweigh the impact on the plaintiffs and the public, here, the Court has found the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that the agency’s decision was arbitrary and capricious.” Public interest not including the people losing jobs because of the spill. After all, when oil companies and regular citizens’ interests collide, oil companies naturally must come first.

The good news is this and the subsequent appeal keeps the issue in the media and watch Republicans support it at their peril - or run away from it a la Joe Barton. By all means America, put Republicans in charge. The corporations will win every time.

Even more disturbing is a story in today’s New York Times about child soldiers in Somalia - working for the rump government that has the support of our own government. Of course, the tragedy of too many African wars means soldiers are in short supply and often children are armed and sent to fight. Certainly, the Islamic insurgents in Somalia have child soldiers among their forces. But it is disconcerting that the so-called good guys also use children in this manner, especially when we pay a large share of the soldiers’ salaries.

Unfortunately, given the lack of functioning government in Somalia, not to mention lack of feasible alternatives for children, it seems this tragic situation will continue on both sides. Coupled with the report on Human Trafficking, it’s a grim picture indeed.

In a sign of just how much the NRA has America by the balls, the Assault Weapons Ban expired and neither a Democratic President nor Congress are attempting to bring it back. This is shameful and wrong. Yesterday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon went to the floor of Congress and called them out for not doing the right thing. Calderon says 75,000 guns and assault weapons have been seized since 2006 and 80% of them are from the U.S.A. Yup, our weapons are fueling the drug wars that force people to flee to the U.S. and seek employment here illegally, which pisses off the people who are most conservative and likely to own guns. Those people are members of the NRA and vote for the class clowns masquerading as Republicans these days, fueling more guns! Of course, this is on top of the pointless prohibition of recreational drugs that pours millions of dollars into the coffers of Mexican drug cartels. But the blood is on our hands for doing nothing about assault weapons.

Clearly, Congress isn’t willing to do anything about this problem, basically a recurring theme of this and past administrations, so it was refreshing at least to have a world leader admonish Congress. Unfortunately, nothing will come of it and Mexicans will continue to die by the thousands. But at least we can’t hide our heads in the sand and say we have nothing to do with it.

These days, the court typically rules 5 - 4 and progressives are used to losing these battles so it was heartening to see today’s ruling. But it was common sense that really prevailed - if a teen does not kill someone, then he or she should not be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Of course the Scalia, Alito and Thomas block voted no - they never saw a prison they didn’t like, a corporation who didn’t need a hand out or a sense of human decency they didn’t feel like violating. Thankfully now, these teens will have to go before the parole board. While the prison system likely makes them even more hardened than when they went in, that is a separate issue - for now on, they get a basic right back that other prisoners have always had.

The big loser is the state of Florida, which again is pulled back from the edge of the right wing cesspool it increasingly wants to become. 70% of all youth offenders sentenced to life without parole in the U.S. are in Florida. Why is that? Good question and one that needs to be addressed.

On a separate note, the likely elevation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court will not change the balance of these rulings. For that, we need one of the big three to die or retire in the next 5 1/2 years.

This weekend Sen. Bob Bennett became the first sitting Senator to lose re-election - months before the actual election. Bennett, a right wing Republican, was deemed not conservative enough and dumped by tea party fanatics in the state Republican convention this past Saturday. That sets up a primary between two fanatics who will vote 100% Republican party line when they inevitably hammer the Democrat into submission this November. Another strike for incivility and uncompromising partisanship - just what America needs.

But Utah is ground zero for another movement and this one is more sinister - the “take back our land” movement that believes the Federal government should cede control of land to local officials. Why? So they can develop energy resources and create jobs. Unfortunately, that means spoiling land that is considered a national treasure. In March, Utah Governor Herbert (guess the party) signed a bill that allows the state to seize Federal lands. Now if that strikes you as nuts - it is. More importantly, it is unconstitutional and similar movements in the past have been ruled as such. Yet the idea is one gaining favor throughout the West - even the hint of the Federal government designating land is enough to put people up in arms.

But this kind of gonzo behavior is epidemic these days as states move to bar Federal laws such as healthcare reform from applying to their citizens. And Utah, a mostly barren yet gorgeous state, is at the forefront of the latest anti-Fed movement. Add this to the festering belief that DC is taking more and more control of people’s lives and you have the setting for a collision course. As usual, Republicans have decided to add fuel to the fire.

The erroneous conception floating out in the country these days is that the government has got its fingers in too many pies - from owning GM to propping up AIG. This is especially relevant as the Senate this week debates the Financial Regulation bill, which is predictably split along partisan lines.

However, the thing that is not bandied about is the simple fact that TARP worked. The big banks did not fail and indeed we, the taxpayer, made a profit as the banks paid back the Federal government with billions in interest. We do still have a huge % ownership in Citibank that was converted to stock - the Fed is preparing to sell that off based on the current stock market, in which Citi is up over 30%. Again, the program worked. Granted, AIG is a basketcase and we won’t see all the money back from that and GM is still shaky - though today they announced repayment of over $6 billion in loans with $45 billion still owed. But the end result has been an estimated $127 billion loss - not bad for a program that stopped us from going into financial meltdown.

Any politician running on an anti-bailout platform is just an idiot and should be called out as such. Any tea bagger who protests more government bailouts is an ignorant fool who does not understand basic economics. Democrats should seize on the successes and beat back anti-Federal government loudmouths as not knowing what they are talking about. The economy was saved thanks to TARP - no it wasn’t perfect, but we should acknowledge that it did its job.

Of course, the financial regulation bill being debated has also stirred up talk about future government bailouts and on this the Dems are right on point. They want a fee on liabilities assessed so that bailouts come from a fund, not the taxpayer. That plays to the mood of the taxpayer right now and is clearly why Republicans are starting to blink. They have pals on Wall Street, but Americans have a lousy view of stock peddlers these days. Let’s hope we get a strong bill that protects consumers and taxpayers. Better late than never.

First, the numbers: last October Gallup found 44% support for legalization, 54% against. Today’s numbers are worse - an AP-CNBC poll found that only 33% support legalization while 55% oppose.

So what gives? Part of it is likely the way the question is posed. Another stat from today’s poll shows that 45% believe costs are too high for enforcing the laws. My guess is if people are pushed by pollsters, most of those additional 12% would fall over the fence into the legalize it camp. On the other hand, it seems like the ceiling right now is about the mid-40s for legalization and that won’t get it done. A bit of good news - more than 50% of young Americans are in favor. Will the slackers of the world hold it together when they get older? That, unfortunately, is somewhat doubtful.

The poll also shed light on the debated medical merits of marijuana and here Americans are on the side of pot - 60% support it and 74% think marijuana has medicinal value. Of course, the science is somewhat mixed on that and you can find evidence supporting either side.

All in all, looks like pot will stay underground for years to come. It will be interesting to see how the California legalization vote goes this year - and the potential effect it might have on turnout, which may be a big help to endangered Dems like Barbara Boxer. Stay tuned…

Even better, they are planning on repaying a loan from the U.S. gov’t due in 2015 by June. That’s $6.5 billion skeptics thought certain to be flushed down the toilet even a few months ago. And possibly turn a profit this year. Who woulda thunk it?

Of course, the anti-Tarpies will harp on the $45 billion they still owe us. Looks like they may be able to do a stock offering and repay that in a few years.

Last week’s primetime ratings showed that such mediocre time wasters as Campbell Brown, Larry King and Anderson Cooper collectively lost nearly half their viewers in a year. These variations on a theme, middle-of-the-road lifestyle shows have proven to be unappealing to people accustomed to watching Olberman/Maddow or the trolls on Fox News. Bland and prone to focusing on inane pop culture over hard news, the CNN shows are unwatchable and I long ago gave up watching CNN at night. Some geniuses have suggested they get a personality or take a political side but I disagree. Just grow some balls and do hard news, not lifestyle fluff.

During the day, the situation is just as dire. In the last several months, CNN has gone in the direction of lifestyle news in the afternoon and away from much hard news. This is embarrassing for what was previously the only dependable news outlet in the country. Now, you’re just as likely to see the buffoonish hosts Tony Harris and Ali Velshi pontificate on health care as play with penguins (I can’t make this up, it happened last Thursday). Even worse, is when they play “What’s Hot” or look to see what’s popular on the Internet. Oh, and then the fake outrage - a kid killed herself after being harassed for a day. The phony outrage was nearly unbearable. Is this really the best the United States can do in terms of news reporting? Because it’s piss poor and embarrassing.

And when there is news, it’s constantly interrupted by inane banter and silly remarks. The hosts are more and more prone to chat with each other and when, say, the weather guy is on, forget it. It’s banter all the time, in between plugging some website like SeatGuru. Even worse, this banter is becoming pervasive on CNN International, the real last bastion of news.

If Ted Turner were dead, he’d be rolling over in his grave. As it is, he’s embarrassed by the network and regrets ever selling. What once was a strong news organization on par with the BBC has been reduced to mush. Yup, Ted Turner is the one left with his credibility. Who could have seen that coming?