Tanem Davidson’s New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art presents a through line for the development of this uniquely American genre of painting which burst out of Abstract Expressionism through the Pop Art’s screened realism into a chrome flecked, hyper-sexualized, fuel-injected dream state. The icons of childhood–Rat Fink, hot rods, movie monsters, robots, toys, cartoons–conjoin in transgressive, illicit intercourse with tikis, animals, dead presidents, dollar signs, slogans, guns, girls, raw meat, and bombs; characters live in their own universes fraught with action and symbols, caught in moments just before, just after Something Happened.

This morning’s news from the S&P stock exchange should be music to Don Blankenship’s ears. Massey’s stock has been upgraded to a “buy” because the accident should be “immaterial” to Massey’s finances. This is the bet that Blankenship made with the lives of 29 miners: that he could risk their lives without risking his profits. Richard Trumka called this disaster “the inevitable result of a profit-driven system and reckless corporate conduct.” He couldn’t be more correct. And Don Blankenship couldn’t care less.

I wrote in my last post on David Passaro that he knew precisely how to defend himself (go here for general background on Passaro and his case). Even before he was indicted, Passaro asked for discovery on CIA’s rules of engagement for detainee interrogations, which he tied to SERE techniques well before the connection had been made publicly. Which is why Passaro’s requests–and CIA’s refusals–for interrogation guidelines are so interesting.

Don Blankenship is the head of Massey Energy, the company that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine which just had a horrific “accident” that left 29 dead. Massey’s conduct under Blankenship has been negligent enough to approach criminality, calling into question how much of an “accident” this was — especially since Blankenship and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chamber and Don Blankenship spent millions to elect judges and get favorable rulings and briefs. This combined effort affects 2010 judicial elections, including the state supreme court in Michigan.

If the “Bailout Blanche” narrative hardens, Halter will have something formidable to use throughout the rest of the campaign.

Democrats risked internal fights over mechanisms to make the bill deficit-reducing and took serious political hits for adding new taxes to the bill. Yet, for all this, they get basically no credit. On a PR messaging front, all that time, effort, and political capital was completely wasted.

AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale tells FDL News that this is only the beginning of a continuing campaign between now and the election, including mail, phone banks, canvassing and GOTV support. “For us the decision was based on support for working families, we think Hanabusa will be much better on those,” Vale said in an email exchange.

Here’s the Quitter’s new employer, Fox News, makin’ stuff up about the Teabaggers.

The DCCC’s efforts to meddle in a race that Hanabusa was clearly winning is unique. Obama has historically taken a strong hand to urge challengers out of primary races against Democrats. He personally called Steve Israel and asked him not to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for the New York Senate seat, and also helped in the effort to “clear the field” for Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania when Joe Sestak was asked to drop his primary challenge. So it’s extremely odd that he’s not intervening in the Hanbusa-Case matter to urge Case out, especially since Case’s entry into a three way race certainly risks throwing the seat to the Republican.

For one week, at least 200,000 out-of-work Americans have seen their jobless benefits expire, despite near double-digit unemployment and a growing number of people who have been unable to find a job for 27 weeks or more. The Congress recessed for two weeks without reaching agreement on an extension of those benefits, which has been historically customary during periods of high unemployment. In particular, Senate Republicans objected to a one-month extension, passed by the House, without offsets like spending cuts or paying for the extension using unspent stimulus money. And Democrats failed to file cloture early enough to get the extension done.