Rep. Carolyn Maloney took to the floor of the House of Representatives this morning to speak about the need to protect the health of cleanup workers responding to the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Knowing OSHA’s poor track record at enforcing laws during times of crisis, like the 9/11 cleanup, Maloney saw the situation unfolding in the Gulf and spoke out about the need to protect the health of cleanup workers, as she put it, “before they lose it.” Watch the video.

With the strong anti-Wall Street mood in the country, it’s ludicrous that Senate Democrats are still behaving this way. They’ve lost their ability to shock me.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will take up the report by Physicians for Human Rights alleging torture experimentation by the CIA. The US was not created as a torturing country; let’s see if our ideals overcome and throw light on this troubling chapter.

First, this depressing point from Markos.

The White House response may not be sufficient, but the pressure is working.

On June 8, California voters turned down campaign-finance reform but embraced an unusual new primary system. The results last night were a mixed bag. The biggest disappointment is that Prop. 15, a small step toward public financing of elections in California, failed by a wide margin. It looks like the corrupting influence of big money in politics will continue for a long time in the state. In retrospect, it was probably a bad decision to put Prop. 15 on the primary ballot when the big races were on the Republican side, with no major Democratic statewide races.

The lack of movement toward public financing of elections is even more disappointing because elections are likely to get more expensive in California, thanks to the passage of Prop. 14. The primary voters yesterday voted to make this the last “primary” as we know it. The so-called top-two primary ballot measure passed by a wide margin. This means all candidates will run in the same “primary” and the top two vote getters, regardless of party, will advance to the general. In effect, this moves the general election to June, with a runoff election months later in November. This eliminates the ability of parties to select their nominee for the general election and makes it unlikely any third-party candidates will be on the November ballot. The official description of Prop. 14 was very misleading. Voters in several districts may not realize what they signed up for when they face a choice between just two Democrats or two Republicans in general elections.

The good news is that Prop. 16, a disgusting power grab by power company PG&E, appears to have lost. The proposition would have made it much more difficult for local entities to create new utilities to compete with the power giant. PG&E spent millions on the ballot measure but the people of California rejected this naked attempt to use the initiative system to protect a corporation’s profits.

The California Chamber of Commerce backed Props. 14 and 16, while opposing Prop. 15. The corporatists won a few last night but it was not a clean sweep. I hope the voters of California enjoy the huge campaign spending by Meg Whitman, because without public financing of elections and with a new “primary” system that will likely make running for office even more expensive, it is a sign of things to come.

Blanche Lincoln took credit for the entire Wall Street bill during the runoff election, and as long as something passes she’ll take credit for whatever that is. Our role is to explain what exactly ends up in the bill, so she cannot get away with such lies. But I don’t know how successful that enterprise will be.

Hey, Blanche? All the corporate donors who were your best buds for the last few months? You can kiss them goodbye — now that they’ve ensured that a corporatist is going to win in November no matter what, they’re going to throw their weight behind the person they actually want. And that person isn’t just a halfway-Republican like you, but a real one.

If you wonder why I described the America’s Future Now 2010 conference as “surly,” I think that actions like Jared Bernstein’s underscore it. People are desperate for real engagement from their leadership. But they feel like they have been put at arm’s length. Because they have.

“Absolute idiots” who “flushed $10 million down the toilet” in a “pointless exercise” that may “cost us the House.” That’s what a “senior White House official” had to say about organized labor tonight after Blanche Lincoln pulled out a victory over challenger Bill Halter.

The core of the problem? The Obama administration apparently thinks labor and working families have got enough already and shouldn’ complain. Marc Ambinder spoke with a senior White House official and reported the following on Twitter: