In support of the 200+ activists trying to let voters decide if marijuana should be legalized at the ballot box in November, we’ve started our own petition to WestNet, demanding they return all 200 signatures of the I-1068 petition and destroy any other copies they have made.

Lincoln voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, and just last week voted against states getting the responsibility to set their own credit card interest rates for their constituents. That’s fine, and so is this ad from AFSCME targeting Lincoln on her entire record over many years. But it’s important to set the record straight on the point in question – Blanche Lincoln can’t explain her own derivatives proposal, chose not to defend it, and won’t stand in the way when it’s watered down. Those are just the facts.

As I noted in this post, the front page NYT story putting Petraeus in charge of the paramilitary groups I will call “JUnc-WTF,” which are deployed in allied countries, reminded me of Eric Massa’s allegations that Dick Cheney and Petraeus were plotting a coup (though, as Massa describes it, it sounds more like an “election challenge”).

Congressional leaders and the White House may have a deal in principle to initiate a process to repeal the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, but Congress still needs to find the votes for that repeal. And those hopes took a hit today with Scott Brown’s opposition.

Louisianans are rightly pissed. Many are frustrated to the point they have to stop talking about the oil and its long-term effects. Fishermen are distraught. Folks from the Lower Ninth Ward, where I’m staying, down to Venice are taking out their anger with handwritten signs. “Damn BP, God Bless America” said one. Another urged people to call “David ‘Oil’ Vitter” and “Mary ‘Oil’ Landrieu.” One van was spraypainted with “Drill Baby Drill: This is War.”

For Kenneth Jindal, it wasn’t so long ago that “Washington” and “big government” was the root of all our problems.

Money from the medical industrial complex efficiently flowed through the foundation world to lay the intellectual framework of the health care bill. The foundations are fulfilling a similar function in order to justify both cutting and privatizing social security, and the check book of Blackstone hedge fund billionaire Pete Peterson is the source of much of the funding. Where did it come from, and where did it go?

The Financial Times and New York Times are reporting large selloffs today in Asian and European markets, and they’re expecting the tidal wave to hit the US markets this morning. Pre-market futures are in negative double digits, so it looks nasty. But pay attention: this is about your social security.

Expanding the power of the executive branch is terrible enough by itself. But redesigning the rules to make it easier to advance conservative goals while inhibiting progressive reform is an unbelievably disappointing request by a Democratic President.

Reponding to a question from Maddow about Monday’s New York Times story that MMS was still issuing new permits despite the supposed moratorium announced by the President and Secretary Salazar, Energy Secretary Chu said that if it were up to him, he would impose a moratorium on all new offshore drilling activities whether or not they already had existing permits.