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Guests: Julia Boorstin, Howard Fineman, Dave Weigel, Todd Harris, Steve McMahon, Dan Gaffney, Chris Cillizza, Margaret Carlson, Willie Brown
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: The eye of Newt.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Boston. Leading off tonight: Going tribal. Newt Gingrich, the notorious political scavenger, has dredged up his dirtiest shovelful. He says the president of the United States is actually a zombie animated by the ghost of his dead African father, leading an anti-colonial Kenyan quest against the white oppressors. The former Speaker of the House said this is the stunning, most profound, most predictive model to fathom the man now the head of our country.
He called Barack Obama a con man who managed to trick America into electing him. Quote, "What if Obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand Kenyan anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions?" That's what Gingrich said this weekend.
I want to know, can we go any further down this sewer of hate? Isn't it enough to fight over taxes and spending and wars? Do we have to attack the very Americanness of the president, who brought this country such honor by his inspiring rise to office?
Plus, we heard John Boehner say he'd be willing to extend the Bush tax cuts just for the middle class. Sounds like he's willing to compromise, maybe, or maybe he's luring Democrats into a trap. We're going to ask the HARDBALL strategists.
Also, the big political story in tomorrow's primaries may come out of Delaware, where a Sarah Palin-Jim DeMint conservative may be poised to score the biggest upset of the political season. A win by Christine O'Donnell would be good news for the tea party, but it could—could—cost the Republican Party a chance to take over the U.S. Senate. And how Meg Whitman's "mad men" managed to rip the scab off a generation-ago fight between two top Democrats, Jerry Brown and Bill Clinton.
"Let Me Finish" tonight with the inspiring sight I saw this weekend in front of Independence Hall.
Let's start with Newt Gingrich's tribal attack on the president. "Newsweek's" Howard Fineman is an MSNBC political analyst and Slate.com's David Weigel's also an MSNBC political analyst.
I think you have to go back to almost pagan rites to find this kind of commentary by a major American official, talking about Obama being basically a Kenyan anti-colonial type who's operating almost zombie-like as his father's pawn in this ghost-like thing he's accusing him of and saying he conned us into electing him president. What do you make of Newt, Howard?
HOWARD FINEMAN, "NEWSWEEK," MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I've been covering Newt for many years. He's a bomb thrower. He's a guy who knows the weak point to attack. And what's interesting to me here is that he feels free to say anything at this point. It's a kind of free-fire zone within the conservative movement.
And Newt, who's always trying to say the most outrageous thing—and that goes back many, many years—now has moved from saying outrageous things about the ethics of House members and the Democratic leadership 15, 18 years ago to saying these things about a man that Newt himself has no evidence for what he's alleging here. He really has absolutely none. His facts are wrong, as Mr. Weigel pointed out on his own page. And I'm just—I'm just really not surprised but kind of depressed by it.
MATTHEWS: You know, David, you cover this kind of spiritual territory and ideological territory. I mean, he's accusing him of basically a zombie. He's saying his father hated the British white guys who ruled Kenya. The son's operating as kind of a zombie-like figure, in fact, governed by a ghost. This is the kind of crazy stuff that Franklin Graham, Reverend Franklin Graham, got into, saying the seed of Islam comes through the father, where you have a Christian evangelical there buying into some Islamic theory of heredity.
You know, my father voted Republican, conservative, every election I think he was in, except maybe one Philly local election. Three of my brothers are—you cannot predict behavior politically from the father. Americans don't buy that. We don't ask what your father did, we ask who are you. There's something really un-American about this stuff. I don't know what to call it. Your thoughts, David.
DAVID WEIGEL, SLATE.COM, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: It was strange. Actually...
MATTHEWS: Strange?
WEIGEL: ... Newt said to this—Newt said this to me and Robert Coast (ph), who's a really great reporter for "National Review," and I could see a glint in his eye as he was saying this. He knew he was going to get a new cycle or two of people analyzing what the heck he meant.
And you know what it reminds me of—is just him getting the word Kenyan into the news reminds me of, you know, that old LBJ expression, Make the SOB deny it. It reminds me of on your show two years ago, when Hillary advisers started using the word cocaine very deliberately to get us to talk about cocaine.
MATTHEWS: You're chuckling, David.
WEIGEL: This is what people do.
MATTHEWS: You think this is funny, David?
WEIGEL: No, I...
MATTHEWS: You think it's funny to de-Americanize...
WEIGEL: It's reminding me...
MATTHEWS: ... somebody?
WEIGEL: No.
MATTHEWS: This is what they did to Dukakis years ago. You take an American whose parents are—you want to see the Democrats do this to Arnold Schwarzenegger and talk about being an Austrian and what maybe somebody in his family might have done once? You want to go after the Indian-Americans who've done so well in American politics, Nikki Haley and the governor of Louisiana? Are we going to go to this kind of tribal politics? It's not funny, David.
WEIGEL: No, I was just laughing in recognition of what—how obvious it is what Gingrich is doing here. You know, I don't think it's funny at all. I think this argument that he's taking from Dinesh D'Souza is actually on the cover of "Forbes" magazine. Why is that on the cover of "Forbes" magazine? It's an incredibly flimsy article (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEWS: Because it's a Republican magazine and the Republicans are out in full force. Let's take a look here. Here's Gingrich—I mean, Steve Forbes may have an interest in this. Gingrich was reacting to a "Forbes" magazine cover story, as you said, David, by conservative Dinesh D'Souza entitled "How Obama Thinks."
Well, "Incredibly, the United States is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated American (SIC) socialist who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions is now setting the nation's agenda through the incarnation—the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he's only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost."
FINEMAN: Well, that's...
MATTHEWS: Newt Gingrich believes it. He said this is brilliant.
FINEMAN: Yes, I know.
MATTHEWS: He said this is stunning.
FINEMAN: Well, Newt, I think...
MATTHEWS: This is the perfect predictor of the behavior.
FINEMAN: All right. Well, David, I think, was at this event the other night, last Saturday. And my sense of it is that Newt was trying to impress the people around him waiting for pearls of attack wisdom from Newt Gingrich. But the article by Dinesh D'Souza has tons of tons of factual inaccuracies and misstated assumptions in it. It's a dream/nightmare of the right about Obama. It's not really about Obama. It's less about Barack Obama, President Barack Obama, than it is about the fears and the nightmares and the resentments of the people who write articles like that. It really is more of a window into...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FINEMAN: ... Dinesh D'Souza than it is into Barack Obama. It has almost nothing to do with Barack Obama himself. Yes, he wrote the book "Dreams From My Father," but if you read that book, it's not about what Dinesh D'Souza says it's about.
MATTHEWS: Who was it that said the other day they know less about this guy than anybody? Wasn't that...
FINEMAN: Haley Barbour.
MATTHEWS: Haley Barbour. Now this guy—and then he writes an autobiography. Now Newt goes after him, David, for having written an autobiography. I mean, it seems like there's no way this guy can win the argument of who he is.
WEIGEL: Well, no. And this is the myth, too, that we don't know this about him. If you go back and read Barack ! Obama's debut speech to the Democratic convention in 2004, the first line of his speech, after he gets through some throat-clearing, is about how his father was a tribesman in Kenya who herded goats.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WEIGEL: This has never been secret. He's been more open about this part of his life, his history, his relationship to his late father than—I mean, go back and read George Bush's, you know, campaign autobiography or what we knew about Bill Clinton before he ran for president.
Obama's been honest. It's just that when—they want—people like Gingrich, people like D'Souza want to keep poking with a stick and hinting that even—in that admission, there's some secret to the way he's governing. There is no secret. I mean, this—if you—this guy appointed Larry Summers and Tim Geithner and a bunch of mainstream American liberals and Keynesians. He didn't appoint a bunch of anti-colonialists. I mean, this is—this is...
FINEMAN: Well, Chris...
FINEMAN: Chris, the Harvard law school has a lot more to do with the way Barack Obama governs...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FINEMAN: ... than Kenya does, but citing the Harvard law school has kind of lost its oomph since, for example, John Roberts is an alumnus of the Harvard law school.
WEIGEL: Right.
MATTHEWS: What is this thing about inebriated? I have to tell you, we've had a lot of very successful top Americans who've overcome—maybe it's part of the reason they've had to rise up as young men. Certainly Bill Clinton, certainly Ronald Reagan had fathers with alcohol problems and did incredibly well in their lives and overcame that incredibly difficult upbringing. Here he is, Dinesh D'Souza, with the approval or the imprimatur of Newt Gingrich, going back and calling his father a drunk. I mean, what is the point?
Here's Gibbs, by the way. Let the White House have its say here. Here they are in response to this stuff. Let's listen to Robert Gibbs.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think Newt Gingrich knows that he's—he's trying to—he's trying to appeal to the fringe of people that don't believe the president was born in this country. You would normally expect better from somebody who had held the position of Speaker of the House. But look, it's political season, and most people will say anything, and Newt Gingrich does that on a genuinely (ph) -- on a regular basis.
MATTHEWS: David Weigel, it seems to me that Newt Gingrich has a history of trying to find racist attitudes on the part of liberals. He's gone after Shirley Sherrod, who was working for the Agriculture Department, calling her a "black racist." He referred to Sonia Sotomayor, who was named—Sonia Sotomayor, who was named to the Supreme Court and confirmed, as a woman—a "Latino woman racist." He seems to like to point that way. Is this to give cover to something on his side, or what's he up to here? Why is he always saying racist, racist, racist about minorities?
WEIGEL: Well, it's something he didn't do quite as much of when he actually had a position of power. You know, it was something, as Howard pointed out, he did it when he was a bomb-throwing, trying to get Republicans back into power. And he's been in that crouch for a few years now, where he sees his job as getting on TV, getting arguments that he thinks are really scintillating onto TV and into the discourse, which he's doing here.
I mean, it really isn't befitting a statesman, befitting a Speaker of the House. This is—this almost reminds me of, you know, Rand Paul talking about the Civil Rights Act as a kind of theory (ph). These are things it's perfectly fine—well, maybe not perfectly fine. These are things it's OK to dish about at an intellectual level, but these are, you know, weird allegations...
WEIGEL: ... to make about the president, with a lot of innuendo that are really not befitting these politics (ph). And I don't think he makes that connection. He's so used to being a political celebrity that I don't think he—he puts these things together anymore.
MATTHEWS: Howard, you and I talk politics a lot to try to understand the way people are playing the game. Let's talk about this, as awful and evil as it may be as a game. Could it be he's attacking Barack Obama when he's down? The polls are tough right now. The right direction/wrong direction numbers at NBC are terrible for the Democrats. Barack Obama's approval's down to an all-time low. The Democrats are probably facing a rout, you might argue, coming up in the next couple months. So why don't you hit his hand into the cement while you got him down?
This argument he's not really one of us may be useful two years from now. Could it be that this is an insurance policy? The unemployment could drop. The economy could get better in two years. Barack Obama could recover. But this smear will stick, and this is what they're hitting him with when they got him down. That's my thought. It's purely political, but that's what Newt is, I think.
FINEMAN: Well, I think—I think Newt is visceral. He's a visceral attack guy. He wasn't very good as a Speaker because he wasn't an affirmative character as much as he was a brilliant attack guy. Here he's doing the dirtiest of dirty work for the Republican cause and the conservative coalition. Why he feels he needs to do this, I'm not entirely sure. He used to be more focused on economics and...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FINEMAN: ... you know, issues like that than he is on this. Even though he came out of Georgia, he was seen almost as a progressive in certain respects for his—the flavor of what he said 15, 18 years ago. Why he's doing this now, I don't know. But you're right. It's to keep Obama down and to try to turn the virtues of biography around on Obama.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
FINEMAN: Let's not forget that Obama sold himself originally and was embraced originally for his biography.
MATTHEWS: Exactly.
FINEMAN: I think the Republicans understand that his biography is the strongest thing about Barack Obama, that it has an "only in America"...
MATTHEWS: Exactly.
FINEMAN: ... uplifting quality to it. They can't stand the idea that Barack Obama has successfully appropriated an aspect of the American ideal, and they want to deny it to him, even though it's two years after the election, in preparation for the next election...
MATTHEWS: Howard, you've never been better!
FINEMAN: ... and perhaps (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEWS: Howard, you've never been better. The American exceptionalism, which he exemplifies...
FINEMAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... which he brings to life, the idea this is the only country in the world you can come to with a name like Barack Hussein Obama...
FINEMAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... in the middle of a terrorist fight, and the American people will still be open-hearted to you and still say, You know, we've looked at who you are, we've looked enough at you, we think you're a good person, we're going to make you our leader. Only here do we do that! That's what inspired me from the beginning about our country.
FINEMAN: Well, they're trying to take that away.
MATTHEWS: And now to turn it inside out...
FINEMAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: They're—also, they're turning it inside out about our country. They're saying this country can't accept assimilation, and that's the opposite of who we are.
Howard Fineman, thank you, sir. Thank you, David Weigel.
Coming up: The White House is escalating its war of words with wannabe House Speaker John Boehner. This is back to safe ground for us all, tax policy. Let's talk about something really wonderfully intramural American for once. Boehner now says he'd be willing to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class if that's the only choice. Question is, is the Senate going to be in the way of that decision? We'll ask our strategists what Boehner's up to, what's the politics. It looks like he's softening up. Is he just getting smarter?
You're watching HARDBALL on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of the Muslim group trying to build an Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York, now says he would never have proposed the building at that site if he knew the backlash that was coming. But the imam says changing plans now would cause an uproar in the Muslim world, strengthen radicals there and send a message that Islam is under attack here in America.
Still, a new Quinnipiac poll shows two thirds of Americans say the mosque should be built as planned—should not be built as planned.
HARDBALL returns after this.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), MINORITY LEADER: If the only option I have is to vote for some of those tax reductions, I'll vote for them. But I've been making a point now for months that we need to extend all the current rates for all Americans.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. With that statement on "Face the Nation," House Republican leader John Boehner set off (ph) a fight with the White House to get control politically of the tax issue, and of course, by extension, the mid-term elections. Who comes out the winner? This is fascinating, and I don't know the answer. That's a question for the strategists.
Steve McMahon is a Democratic strategist, Todd Harris Republican—well, you're laughing the loudest there, Todd Harris, so explain to me—you know, everybody knows there's more votes (ph) for people who make less than $250,000 a year than there are people who make more. That's just the way economics works. There's only a few people at the top. So what's he doing here? Is he just saying, I'm not going to get in the way of middle class people—by the way, middle class extends—it extends as high as $250,000. That's a lot. So let's just say he doesn't want to be the bad guy. What's further (ph) their strategy here? What's Boehner up to?
TODD HARRIS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, what he's saying—what he's saying is that he'd rather have tax cuts for the middle class than no tax cuts at all. But what he also repeatedly said in that interview is that he doesn't think that that's what the choice is going to come down to. Republicans are pushing—Boehner has been pushing for across the board—for an extension across the board of all of the '01 and '03 tax cuts.
And as far as the political calculation, you know, you yourself know, Chris, that class warfare arguments almost never work in American politics. The and DNC is working overboard (ph) right now, trying to turn this election into some kind of referendum on class warfare, but it's just not working. And all you need for proof of that is to get out of Washington, to come—you can come to a place...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
HARRIS: ... like Florida, where I am now, and look at a candidate like the Alex Sink, Democratic nominee for governor in Florida. She the other day came out for an extension of all the Bush tax cuts. So it's not just Republicans.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
HARRIS: A lot of prominent Democrats agree with this position, as well.
MATTHEWS: Let me go back—let me go to Steve. Steve, what do you think's going on with Boehner? Why would he say, yes, go ahead, if it comes down to it, I'm not going to get in the way of the tax cuts for the middle?
STEVE MCMAHON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Because he understands the Republicans' vulnerability historically is that they look out for fat cats, they look out for wealthy people and they look out for Wall Street. And what he's doing here is, I think, waving the white flag and basically saying, I'm not going to do that to my members. I'm not going to make them walk the plank on tax cuts for millionaires. I'm not going to make them walk the plank on borrowing $700 billion in order to give it to the wealthiest Americans and give every millionaire $100,000-a-year tax cut. I'm not going to do it.
I think the interesting thing here is what it does to Mitch McConnell and to the moderate Republicans, who need independent voters still, and some of those downscale voters in order to get reelected, particularly the two women senators from Maine.
Let's talk politics.
HARRIS: Steve, Steve, Steve...
MATTHEWS: Let's talk politics.
Suppose there's a vote on the floor sometime before the election, and one of the options on the floor is a two-year full extension for everybody, and the other option is to only extend the tax cuts for people below $250,000. Would the first win and therefore knock the other out of the game?
Steve, could you stop Democrats from contributing to a 218-point victory, which I assume would get all the Republican votes, for 218 to basically extend all the tax cuts? How could you stop it from passing if the came before the floor?
MCMAHON: Oh, I don't think it would get to the floor, Chris.
As you know, the speaker controls what...
MCMAHON: Hold on a second, because you asked a very good question, and it would be a difficult question if it were not for the fact that the speaker controls the flow of legislation to the floor.
And what will get to the floor now, with John Boehner's support, is a tax cut for everybody who makes $250,000 and under, and what won't get to the floor is what John Boehner would like. It might get to the floor in the Senate, and the Republicans then will have to defend tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
MATTHEWS: I agree.
But, Steve—let me go back to Todd.
I'm not going to make you're fight for you, but you're already laughing. It seems to me, Boehner, by offering the white flag, as you put it, Steve, has got himself in a position where he can say, OK, I will vote for it if it's the only thing we got. Now give me another option. Let me have an up-or-down on everybody getting a tax cut.
Your thoughts, Todd.
HARRIS: Well, he certainly has not waved a white flag. And I'm only laughing because the class warfare argument from Steve is very unbecoming, but I think it's funny when you have got more and more Democrats...
MCMAHON: It's fiscal discipline, Todd. It's fiscal discipline.
HARRIS: ... when you have got more and more—when you have got more and more Democrats every day coming out in support of extending all of the tax cuts, Democrats like Alex Sink here in Florida. The more the DNC tries to turn this into a class warfare argument...
HARRIS: ... the more they're going to be undercutting their own candidates. I think that's really funny.
MATTHEWS: In deference to—in deference to Todd, here's that ad he keeps talking about. This is the DNC ad that goes after Boehner. Let's listen.
NARRATOR: Think Republicans have no plan for the economy? It's not true. John Boehner opposes funding for government jobs, jobs for teachers, for cops, for firefighters. Boehner has a different plan, tax cuts for businesses, those that shift jobs and profits overseas, saving multinational corporations $10 billion.
MATTHEWS: Do you think public employees are popular, Steve? Do you think that's a good ad to be running? I keep hearing people gnashing their teeth that public employees are making more than the regular person in the country, and they don't like it.
What are the politics of this?
MCMAHON: Well, I think, first of all, the politics of going after John Boehner when most people in America don't know who John Boehner is, is somewhat questionable, in my mind.
HARRIS: I agree with you there.
MCMAHON: I do think that police officers and fire—police officers and firefighters and teachers are popular and contributing members in their communities. And they consistently test pretty well. And the reason they're in that ad is because people don't want firefighters and police officers and teachers laid off or run off the job because of budget cuts.
MATTHEWS: Todd?
HARRIS: From a pure strategy standpoint, you know, as both Steve and I make TV ads, I agree. Firemen, teachers, nurses, they're all very popular.
For the average American though, if you talk about reducing the number of government workers, that's something that they would say amen to it.
MATTHEWS: That's not what the ad does, though, Todd, is it? That's not what the ad does, though, is it, Todd?
HARRIS: It's the very first thing they say.
MATTHEWS: Here's the B.S. factor. This is why the people don't trust ads. What's the difference between a cop, a fireman and a teacher who are working for the government and government workers, Todd?
MCMAHON: Here's the difference.
HARRIS: There's a huge difference. Cops, firemen, teachers are on the front lines. Actually, I think most people would think they actually earn their salaries.
The average government bureaucrat who sits behind a desk and pushes paper, we have too many of them, and most Republicans would be for...
MATTHEWS: You're such a pol.
HARRIS: Oh, please. They would support an across-the-board cut.
MATTHEWS: You're such a pol.
Steve, would you defend the average worker that doesn't get seen, the one behind the—in the back, you know, when you go to the office, or she's in the back? How come they look so bad? How come the unseen public employee is hated, but the seen public employee is sort of liked?
MCMAHON: Well, it's the under—it's understanding the job they do. So, people very clearly understand the job that a teacher or firefighter of police officer does.
When you talk about the faceless, nameless, government bureaucrat, nobody understands who it is you're talking about. But when you explain to him that it's the person who is picking up your garbage every day or the person who is making sure that people drive with driver's licenses and auto insurance, then they appreciate them a little bit more.
But, generally, it's just—it's a slur. Government bureaucrat is definitely a slur.
HARRIS: Driver's license? I'm glad Steve has now come out in favor of huge expansions in the number of people who sit around the D.C. DMV and do nothing all day.
MCMAHON: No, no, Todd, they make sure you have a driver's license.
MATTHEWS: OK. Bottom line, bottom line, we get to election eve, the people go to vote, which of the two realities will they face? Will they have the Democrats saying the Republicans held up the tax cut for the middle class because all they care about is the rich, or will the Democrats be—will the Republicans be able to say all the Democrats want to do is futz around with this bill; now your taxes are going up?
Todd, you first. What will they be saying when they go to vote?
HARRIS: Look, any time we're talking about taxes, it's a good issue for Republicans. I think the Democrats are going to cave and come our way.
MATTHEWS: Give the full tax cut.
Go ahead, your thoughts, Steve. What will be the voter thinking when he votes or she votes?
MCMAHON: The Republicans are going to hold up the tax cut for everybody, and everybody's taxes are going to go up because the Republicans insisted that millionaires and billionaires should get the same kind of tax treatment that average working-class families get.
And I think the Republicans are going to lose this. And I think John Boehner knows it, which is why he waved the white flag on Sunday.
MATTHEWS: I know, because you know you're not going to get the 60 votes in the Senate. And that's the bottom line. And that's what we all know is the truth here. Boehner knows it. All three of us know it.
In the end, they won't get the tax cut they want, because the Democrats won't be able to get the 60 votes. And if they don't get it their way, I'm not sure you're right, Steve, they're going to throw in the white towel. What it is? It's always the white towel.
Anyway, Steve McMahon...
MCMAHON: White flag.
MATTHEWS: White flag, white towel.
Anyway, thank you, Todd Harris.
Thank you, Steve McMahon.
Up next: John Boehner is not just facing scrutiny for changing his mind about taxes. He's hearing it about his smoking habit. Wait until you hear this conversation between Bob Schieffer of "Face the Nation" and a major political figure about—Bob licked the habit of smoking. Now he wants this other guy to do it. What is this, a crusade from Bob Schieffer?
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. Now to the "Sideshow."
Is John Boehner calling it quits with his smoking habit, that is? Watch what he told Bob Schieffer yesterday on "Face the Nation."
BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST, "FACE THE NATION": Mr. Boehner, I'm going to ask you this question because I'm not objective about this. I'm—I'm a cancer survivor. I used to be a heavy smoker. Do you still smoke?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I do.
Bob, tobacco is a legal product in America. And the American people have the right to decide for themselves whether they want to partake or not.
SCHIEFFER: If you should become speaker, you could set a good example for the country by saying, I'm going to try to stop smoking. Maybe you could get the president. I understand he smokes too. Maybe the two of you could find a way to try to stop smoking. That would be kind of a good thing, wouldn't it?
BOEHNER: Bob, I appreciate your suggestion.
MATTHEWS: Well, Bob, a noble effort, but let Boehner be Boehner. Let Obama be Obama.
Now to the "Big Number."
As the saying goes, it appears the cake is baked this November. Per analyst Nate Silver, what are the chances that Republicans will gain control of the House come November 2 by nightfall? Sixty-seven percent. Republicans have a two-in-three shot at taking over the House of Representatives, tonight's fast-rising big, bad number.
Up next: Republican Mike Castle was a shoo-in, many thought, to win the Senate seat in Delaware—that's the old Biden seat—until a Tea Party challenger steamrolled ahead of him in the polls. And that's given the Democrats new life up there in Delaware. Are the Republicans on the verge of losing a race they had in the bag?
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Julia Boorstin with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
An upbeat day for stocks on new banking rules out of Europe and an encouraging report on Chinese manufacturing—the Dow Jones industrials climbing 81 points, the S&P 500 adding 12, and the Nasdaq jumping 43 points.
Big banks getting a boost from new rules aimed at averting another global meltdown. The rules turned out to be not as strict as many has feared, and banks have until the year 2018 to comply.
Meanwhile, industrials and materials benefiting from a larger-than-expected increase in Chinese industrial output. Microsoft shares leading blue chips higher on rumors it may be planning a debt offering to pay for dividends and buybacks.
Xerox surged to the top of the S&P after an enthusiastic cover story in "Barron's." And, in M&A news, Hertz beat out Avis in the bidding war for Dollar Thrifty, offering a little bit more than $1.5 billion.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to HARDBALL.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
The Republican primary in Delaware, the little state of Delaware, tomorrow could have big implications for the Republicans nationwide and their ability to take over the U.S. Senate, which is possible.
Republican Mike Castle fending off a tough challenge from Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell. And polls show he's in the race of his life. Actually, that's a close—too close to call.
Here's an ad—a couple of ads that reflect what's going on up there. Let's watch.
NARRATOR: Do you recognize this Delaware politician? Here's some hints. According to "The News Journal," she didn't pay thousands in income taxes, had to be sued by a university for thousands in unpaid bills, defaulted on her mortgage.
She ran up a huge campaign debt and left vendors and staff unpaid, while using campaign funds to pay her own rent and personal expenses.
Say hello to Christine O'Donnell.
MATTHEWS: And Sarah Palin of Alaska has recorded a radio ad and a robocall for Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Partier.
Here's part of it.
SARAH PALIN ®, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Hi. This is Governor Sarah Palin.
Vote for Christine O'Donnell for U.S. Senate this Tuesday.
The wave of positive change can really sweep across our land with the election of constitutional conservatives like Christine, who promise to use common sense and rein in federal government spending.
I can relate to the vicious personal attacks on Christine and can tell you it's sad to see the establishment's desperation in this.
MATTHEWS: Wow.
Joining me is Delaware radio talk show host Dan Gaffney and WashingtonPost.com managing editor Chris Cillizza.
Dan, give me a sense. Do the voters of Delaware know how important this vote is tomorrow, that this could affect the—I guess you would call it the outside chance of the Republicans grabbing the Senate, as well as the House, come November?
DAN GAFFNEY, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes, I think many of them do, but some of my talk radio callers don't care. They are more interested in winning the actual battle than the war.
And there's such a wind of anti-Castle—there's an anti-Castle wind in the air. And even when presented with the fact that Castle has a better chance at beating the Democrat, Coons, many people don't care. They want to vote him out anyway.
MATTHEWS: Boy, that sounds like the Democratic left sometimes. That sounds like November doesn't count. I grew up with it. It's called NDC.
Cillizza, you're shaking your head positively.
The one thing about a polarized electorate is, it doesn't care about practical electoral consequences.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes.
MATTHEWS: By the way, I want to give a salute, if not a positive salute, a reality check, to the far right. Bob Bennett was knocked off. The guy that beat him, Lee, is going to win the general.
Crist—Crist has been bumped out of his party, but Rubio could well win that. He's ahead in the polls down there. Specter was knocked out of his party, but Toomey is well ahead by about seven points in P.A.
And who am I missing? Murkowski. Well, I got to bet what's-his-name up there, Joe Miller, is going to win that, or—if gets in that thing clean, one on one. So, you could argue that the Tea Parties have had a pretty good record of positioning themselves to win generals, maybe not in Nevada, but other places.
CILLIZZA: Chris, first of all, isn't it amazing that we're talking about Delaware? You've got New Hampshire Senate race. You've got New York. You've got Wisconsin. We're talking about Delaware.
This is a state we never thought we would be talking about. Number two, that state you just listed, Alaska, Utah, those kind of states, the one thing that is different, this is Delaware. This is a Democratic state. Mike Castle's been elected for more than 40 years. He's been the governor of the state.
GAFFNEY: Right.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GAFFNEY: He's been the at-large representative. This is not a state where whoever winds up being the Republican nominee—Utah, Alaska—has a big leg up in winning.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me give you—let me give you—let me give you some history, young fellow.
MATTHEWS: Joe Biden, back in 1972, bonked out a guy who had won the House seat—and let's go in here, Dan—you're the expert—had been a House member, a Senate member for X-many terms, and a governor, just like this guy Mike Castle.
Joe Biden, at the age of 29, knocked him out of the seat and held it for, what, 40 years.
GAFFNEY: Right.
MATTHEWS: So, isn't it possible that Christine O'Donnell could be a senator for life? We don't know, do we?
GAFFNEY: Well, let me tell you what my original opinion was, that, if she wins the primary tomorrow, we would say hello, Senator Coons. That was my original opinion.
MATTHEWS: Right.
GAFFNEY: But now I'm starting to think that, if she pulls it off tomorrow, if—that's a big if—she could do anything. If she can beat Mike Castle in this state, she can do anything.
MATTHEWS: What's your state like these days? Is it as unhappy as the rest of the country and could it say, you know what, she isn't quite prepared, or may be this other fellow, Coons, has more executive experience? The usual logic way we make decisions may not be in play this year. There's so much anger.
GAFFNEY: No, it's very emotional, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GAFFNEY: It's very emotional. There's a lot of anti-establishment, anti-incumbent sentiment. The Tea Party movement is strong. There is a strong sentiment, especially in the southern part of the state. There are only three counties, the two lower counties, much more conservative, much more likely to go to Christine O'Donnell. The upper country, new Castle, is urban, it's the city of Wilmington, much more likely to go toward Mike Castle.
However, will he win enough in New Castle to take the whole state? It's a crap shot. All of my political pundit friends are saying the same thing to me. I don't know.
MATTHEWS: Well, let's talk about the country. Chris, go back, let's pull back and look at the whole country.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, THE WASHINGTON POST: Sure.
MATTHEWS: People watching now from California want to know this. It's possible with Boxer in play, with Patty Murray in play, with Harry Reid in play, with Russ Feingold in play—
CILLIZZA: Yes.
MATTHEWS: -- that Democrats could lose the Senate. It's very possible on a bad night, a waif night. You're the expert, right? Delaware matters.
CILLIZZA: Yes. Look, I would say, Delaware, you used the word in the intro, Chris, shoeing. And I thought to myself, that's exactly right. That's we consider this like I met Chris Coons, I like Chris Coons, I didn't think Chris Coons is going to beat Mike Castle.
I agree that Christine O'Donnell, you never know what's going to happen if she wins. But she's not a strong a candidate as Mike Castle in the general election. Doesn't mean she can't win but she's not a strong a candidate.
So, if you take Delaware and move into the "we don't know category," now you're looking at rather than winning two out of three of Wisconsin, Washington and California, now, you're talking about winning all three. Is it possible? Yes. It's absolutely possible.
MATTHEWS: Ha! I love it.
CILLIZZA: Polling actually suggests that it could happen, but it seems odd to me. I think Wisconsin—in order I think—Wisconsin, California, Washington, even the most sort of optimistic Republican strategists I talked to say, look, we'd love to win two out of three, that would make a great night. But two out of three and losing Delaware, that—
MATTHEWS: Let me go to Gaffney, a fellow Irish. I got you on the show. I got to ask you this: Do you think it could be the year where guys like Beau Biden and guys like me were smart enough to make the run?
I'm looking at this situation. You cannot predict this year. It is a crap shot. And there's certainly anti-establishment out there, that they recognize your name and they say, I knew that name three months ago. They don't like you.
GAFFNEY: Well, I think Beau Biden—
MATTHEWS: Isn't that true?
GAFFNEY: It is true. Beau Biden should have gotten in this year. I mean, he probably—
MATTHEWS: Could he have beaten neither of these candidates? Could he have beaten Castle or beaten O'Donnell?
GAFFNEY: Yes. I think he could have.
MATTHEWS: Really?
GAFFNEY: Not that I would support him, but I think he could. Yes. Beau Biden, absolutely.
CILLIZZA: Chris, can I make one quick point that matters?
MATTHEWS: Sure.
CILLIZZA: Alaska, August 24th, what was interesting about that state? A small state by population, where a relatively small number of people—we weren't sure exactly who were voting. Delaware, a small state by population, where a relatively few number of people that we aren't sure who's going to vote.
That's why Republican strategists are nervous. Everyone I talk to today and I talk to a lots people, most of them supporting Castle—
MATTHEWS: OK. Great.
CILLIZZA: -- say we think he's going to win, but we don't know.
MATTHEWS: Tell me something I don't know, Cillizza. Is Murkowski going to go three-way up in Alaska?
CILLIZZA: No. Absolutely not.
CILLIZZA: Her only option now is write-in in and even if she did, it's very, very, very—another very on there—difficult to win a write-in case anyway.
MATTHEWS: OK. Dan Gaffney, what is the first state?
GAFFNEY: The first state? We are the first state.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much. Delaware's the first state. I'm just giving you an easy end to end the segment. Thank you.
CILLIZZA: Why do I get that question?
MATTHEWS: Because you're on the show too often.
Anyway, thank you, Chris Cillizza. Thank you, Dan Gaffney of Delaware
Up next: Republican Meg Whitman has already spent over $100 million on her campaign for governor and ready to spend a lot more. Now, she's trying to use Bill Clinton to bring down her opponent, Jerry Brown. What an ad she's put on the air.
Brown and Clinton butted heads when they were both running for president back in 1992. She's ripped the scab off that and got them fighting again, I guess. I guess it's good politics. It's nasty stuff.
Back in a minute with the fight in California. This is HARDBALL on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Senate Democrat leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, still can't shake the Tea Party challenger Sharron Angle. A new Mason-Dixon/"Las Vegas Review-Journal" poll has the race dead heat: Reid 46, Angle, 44, right in the margin of error. And with 50 days to go until the election, the most powerful Democrat in the Senate is still on shaky ground.
HARDBALL back in a minute.
MATTHEWS: We're back.
An 18-year-old fight between Jerry Brown and Bill Clinton has been reignited. California's Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman, fashioned an entire ad on TV out of the Clinton attack on Brown back in 1992 during a primary debate. Here's the ad.
NARRATOR: Jerry Brown's good old days. But what really happened.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: CNN—not me—CNN says his assertion about his tax record was, quote, "just plain wrong." Jerry Brown went out there and took credit for the fact that the people of California voted for Proposition 13, which lowered taxes, which he opposed. And now, he's taking credit for it. He raised taxes as governor of California. He had a surplus when he took office and a deficit when he left. He doesn't tell people the truth.
SUBTITLE: Jerry Brown. Same story. New decade.
MATTHEWS: Well, and then Brown, the guy candidate for governor, actually took the war of words to a new level when he assailed the ad by taking a swipe at Clinton and invoking Clinton's impeachment ordeal. Let's listen.
JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Meg Whitman, she stops at nothing. She's even got Clinton lying about me. That's right. No, did you see that? Where he said I raised taxes. It's a lie. So, the "New York Times" said—the "L.A. Times" said that.
But they'll say anything and that's why we have to have our own truth squad to get the word out. OK? I mean, Clinton's a nice guy but who ever said he always told the truth?
BROWN: You remember, right? There's the whole story there about did he or didn't he? OK, I did—I did not have taxes with this state. So, let's be clear about that. Thank you very much.
MATTHEWS: Well, we'll see how that plays out.
Willie Brown is the former mayor of San Francisco, the former speaker of the assembly out there. Margaret Carlson with "Bloomberg."
Let's establish one fact before we get in the rigmarole here. First of all, Brown is right. According to Brooks Jackson, he wrote the report back then. Governor Brown did not raise taxes—the CNN report that Bill Clinton was using back then wasn't accurate.
So, let's get back now to the facts straight. There's no evidence that Brown raised taxes while he's governor. But let's get back to the statement.
Margaret, you first. Why would Jerry Brown reignite—despite the cleverness of this "Mad Men" ad, this brilliant ad by Meg Whitman, and she got all the money in the world, hired the smartest Don Draper she gets her hands on. The fact is, why would Jerry Brown make a fight now with the most popular Democrat in the country?
MARGARET CARLSON, BLOOMBERG: Well, Jerry Brown is one of those candidates who can't be handled and he does stick his foot in his mouth. And after Willie Brown, Bill Clinton must be one of the most popular Democrats in California. And nobody thinks back to impeachment. That's ancient history.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I know.
CARLSON: And for Jerry Brown to bring it up, about such a popular Democrat, is—is lunacy, really.
Now, Bill Clinton was never going to come and campaign for Jerry Brown. There were a lot of wounds in that campaign, including Jerry Brown attacking Hillary Clinton. But you don't want Bill Clinton against you in a state where he's very popular.
MATTHEWS: Well, that may be—I'm not sure the plan's right. But I'm trying to figure out if he had a plan, Margaret you may be right.
But I would think, Mayor Brown, he would have probably come out there for Barbara Boxer and she's in a tough race, and he would have said good things about Brown along the way. I guess this is tricky now.
WILLIE BROWN (D), FORMER SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR: Well, let's be very clear. I think Senator Clinton, as is the case with now-Secretary State Clinton, will probably at some point, be in California. That's just the way the political game is played. And I think she will say good things about all of the Democratic candidates.
Even more importantly, I think President Bill Clinton will be in California. And probably more than one time. And he, too, will say good things about Democratic candidates.
Jerry Brown has to be very, very careful. He's so bright, so able, and so combative on every occasion when everybody attacks him, he flashes back. And this is one of those occasions where he just made a tactical error. He did not know somebody was there with the television camera—
MATTHEWS: Yes.
BROWN: -- watching and hearing exactly what he says.
MATTHEWS: Margaret?
BROWN: I've been in that position before—
MATTHEWS: I know.
BROWN: -- and I know how awful it is.
MATTHEWS: Margaret, what's the matter with politicians in the 21st century, they can't remember that they're in the 21st century?
CARLSON: I know. Right.
MATTHEWS: You are here to represent. You have a guy or a woman in the back, I don't care if they're 3 years old, they've got a cell phone and it's pointed at you, pay attention. I mean, there's no secret meetings anymore.
CARLSON: No. There are none. And I mean, macaca moment—
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CARLSON: -- went around the world and, you know, Jerry Brown is pretty smart. But, you know, he is one of these spontaneous politicians, because you and I had dinner with him a few years ago. And he hadn't lost any of his—I mean, it was reporters' dinner—where, you know, he's just an original and he can't hold back.
And I bet that was his line. It just came out of his mouth. Nobody gave it to him ahead of time. He couldn't resist.
MATTHEWS: You know, Mayor Brown, Jerry Brown's been at my house on weekends with my kids, my grown-up kids now, and he narrates the morning with them. He gets up in the morning. He says, here we're having breakfast together, we're making some coffee, we're talking about day.
He's always sort of giving that running narrative. I mean, I guess that's his problem. He was giving us too much of a narrative of what happened 18 years ago.
BROWN: Well, Margaret is correct. Jerry Brown is an original.
She's incorrect, though, nobody can supply him with any words. He creates all of his own words. And then finally, you're right again. He's not in the 21st century because he must know that he is being followed 100 percent of the time.
If Meg Whitman can spend more than $100 million doing all of the things that she can, she can hire 10 people to follow him around with a camera, and some of them will be Democrats, and they will turn in their information every night. So, he's just got to watch out for that prospect.
MATTHEWS: Yes, I have no reason to believe that Meg Whitman is as smart as the ad she put on the air. But the guy who made that ad or the woman who made that ad is one freakin' genius. That is one piece of work. That rips the scab off. And better yet, it started the fight between the two top Democrats in the country now. It's what you do in politics.
You're laughing, Mayor, because you know how the game is played. That ad deserves the Cleo for trouble-making.
Anyway, thank you, Willie Brown. It's great to have you on.
And as always, Margaret Carlson, my pal. Thank you for coming on.
CARLSON: Thanks, Chris.
MATTHEWS: When we return, let me finish tonight with some very positive thoughts and a tough day in the news about sending the right message against the lunatic fringe. Thanks to Governor Ed Rendell and what he did this weekend. It was so admirable.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with something good that came of this book-burning craziness in the now-related issue of the New York Islamic center.
This Saturday, I stood facing Philadelphia's Independence Hall as a group of Islamic, Jewish and Christian leaders prayed from the religious text in a spirit of interreligious tolerance.
Governor Ed Rendell, who hosted the event, spoke of the great irony that circles around the New York Islamic center to be built two blocks from the World Trade Center. He said that the people of the World Trade Towers themselves had set aside a stair well between the 106th/107th floor for the Muslim workers who worked there to say their daily prayers. He said that space was made available because people working high in the towers would otherwise would have had to gone down 100 floors and walked four blocks to the nearest mosque.
Rendell said it was ironic that he would be so comfortable leading what was essentially a demonstration of interfaith respect for all of their holy texts of the three great religions, emphatically, including the Koran. As he pointed out, the governor of Pennsylvania himself happens to be Jewish.
The people who spoke in front of Independence Hall where—they must have known a small counterpart of the vast global publicity stunt earned by the pastor threatened to burn the Koran. But they were there anyway, proud to remind themselves, if only those who heard about it, that this country was founded on religious freedom, that every person who came to this country freely came here for more freedom, to think and worship freely.
Newt Gingrich said something awful this week, and he said that the president of the United States represents Kenyan anti-colonial thinking. There is one purpose of that statement, to de-Americanize Barack Obama. It plays into the thinking of those who say that the president is not an American.
Weirdly, Gingrich goes further. He declares Barack Obama to be some zombie walking around as the guidance of his African father.
Who better honors the values-country, those who stood at Independence Hall this weekend or the former speaker who takes upon himself the role of Ellis Island gatekeeper, decreeing who is an American really depending on the dictates of the next election?
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
Right now, it's time for "THE ED SHOW" with Ed Schultz.


text:
The Tyranny of the Politically
- By Marvin R. Shanken
- | From Raquel Welch, Jul/Aug 01
America has reached a point where the basic rights of the majority are being curtailed because someone, somewhere is offended by something. Some of our new rules and regulations have reached such absurd extremes that you feel that if you even smile at the wrong person, you may end up in court, or worse, in jail.
It seems that anyone with a personal ax to grind these days has no problem in taking it to the politically correct limit. Take, for example, one private grade school on Manhattan's Upper West Side that recently banned Mother's Day celebrations, and, out of "fairness," Father's Day observances as well. The reason? A few of the school's students were being raised by same-sex couples, or by one parent or someone other than their birth parents, and school officials feared they might be offended by such observances.
Where are the rights of birth mothers and fathers in that decision?
We believe that many of the laws prohibiting discrimination in the United States are extremely important, and have contributed greatly to creating a more equal society today. In the past 50 years alone, we have seen laws that have eliminated the Jim Crow regulations in the South, opened the doors to schools and other public places to people of all creeds and races, and created fairer working conditions for women and minorities. Those are the good examples.
But we've also seen the disturbing evolution toward increasingly restrictive policies, often taking
antidiscrimination laws far beyond their original intent. Antismoking laws represent one prime
example. When they were first implemented, the laws were designed to separate smokers from nonsmokers.
Where separation wasn't adequate, such as in airplanes and elevators, where there was no true way to
keep smokers
separate, those venues appropriately became nonsmoking areas.
The laws largely succeeded; yet that was not enough for the antitobacco forces. They began to chip away at what in most circumstances were workable and equitable solutions. Bad science, especially regarding secondhand smoke, was used to toughen already restrictive regulations.
Take New York City as an example. Its city council implemented one of the most restrictive policies in the nation in 1995 when it limited smoking in restaurants to those with fewer than 35 seats, or with areas separated from the main dining area. It meant that in many establishments, diners had to move to the bar after a meal or leave if they wanted to smoke. It was a repressive plan, but it still recognized some smokers' -- and restaurant owners' -- rights. Now, the city council, led by its speaker, Peter Vallone (who is running for mayor), is trying to toughen the restrictions by prohibiting smoking in all restaurants and restaurant bars, with no exceptions. Restaurant owners will no longer be allowed to choose to whom they may cater, and smokers once more face the tyranny of the politically correct.
You have seen what those zero-tolerance laws have done in cities around America: pockets of smokers standing like outcasts outside their buildings because they can't smoke anywhere indoors. (Some cities are even trying to ban outdoor smoking!) Slowly but surely, the powers that be are trying to take away the few remaining rights that smokers have.
What most people fail to realize is that it isn't just smokers' rights that are being threatened. The targets include everything from what you can say, to what you can do, to what you can eat. (Think of animal-rights extremists if you want a glimpse of the future.) If any behavior or subject can be deemed offensive by even a small minority, they raise a clamor and often get their wish to have it abolished or prohibited.
We live in the Land of the Free. But zealots are destroying those freedoms. What we've said before bears repeating: defend your rights now, or one day you'll discover that you don't have any left to defend.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
(Weiss Schwarz)
Himeno, Just Like Before / 昔みたいに 姫乃 DC3/W18-061 C
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WASHINGTON – The number of Americans buying new homes plummeted in March to the slowest pace in seven months, a sign that real estate's spring buying season is off to a weak start.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales of new homes declined 14.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000. That was the second consecutive monthly decline and the lowest rate since July 2013.
Sales plunged in the Midwest, South and West in March. But they rebounded in the Northeast, where snowstorms in previous months curtailed purchases.
New-home sales have declined 13.3 percent during the last 12 months.
But median sales prices jumped 12.6 percent during the last month to $290,000. That's because new-home buyers in March bought more high-end properties compared to previous months.
Home sales usually improve with the start of the spring. More would-be buyers venture to open houses. Families with children often begin to look for homes so they can move once the school year ends.
Builders anticipated a snap-back with the warmer weather. There were 193,000 new homes for sale at the end of the month, about 39,000 more than the same period last month.
However, several other indicators also show that housing activity was muted last month.
Builders started work on 946,000 homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, up 2.8 percent from 920,000 in February, the Commerce Department said last week. Those figures include both single-family homes and rental properties. Applications for permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 2.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 990,000.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index was 47 in April. Readings below 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as poor rather than good.
Sales also have been modest because of affordability issues.
Rising prices over the last year and higher mortgage rates have made it harder for many Americans to afford a home. Real estate data provider CoreLogic says home prices rose 12.2 percent in the past year. Wage growth last year failed to keep pace with the higher buying costs.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 4.27 percent last week. Rates surged about 1.25 percentage points from May through September, peaking at 4.6 percent. Those increases began after the Federal Reserve signaled that it would begin to pull back from its bond-buying program.
Those Fed bond purchases were designed to keep long-term interest rates low to spur more borrowing and boost economic growth. Since December, the Fed has reduced the size of its monthly purchases to $55 billion from $85 billion.


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I'm a sucker for hockey coverage, so with it is with great glee that I point out this NHL.com article on Michigan and its freshmen, though it opens up with this:
In the spring of 1992, Ann Arbor, Michigan and the college basketball world were captivated by five sensational freshmen who brought the University of Michigan basketball team to within seconds of a national title.Come on, man! Michigan won a national title in 1998 with a similar horde of freshmen... in hockey. No need to throw that Fab Five junk in our face when you've got a much better analogue available--one that ended happily, I might add.
About Georgia, Capital Of Football Blogging Despite Not Being A City. Yeah, I even forgot a couple: the recently-returned Braves & Birds and the GT bloggers at Golden Tornado. QEDMF!
Yes, this is what I meant. The UFR:D yesterday was strident--perhaps a bit too strident, but it's a blog, I don't have an editor--and I expended a lot of words searching for the exact reason why Michigan's passive defense got my dander up. I have found the words:
[The coaches] seemed content with the game being decided by whatever mistakes the opposition made, no matter if Michigan caused them or not.That's the Underachieving All Stars again filling the pith in where mine fails me. Much speculation about Michigan's tendency towards annoying 9-3 equilibrium has been posted, but I'll add mine to the pile: the reliance upon opponent's mistakes fails a few times a year when Michigan comes up against a team that is on or is just really efficient. Passive play with superior talent is an easy ticket to a bucketful of wins and a small, potent selection of painful losses.
The posts of RBUAS are problematic only in that they are infrequent. Go, partake.
Daniel Horton had a tough year last year in every way you can short of having you mom kidnapped by Space Elvises. Nathan Fenno continues his strong work for the Ann Arbor News with a long story on the star-crossed point guard.


text:
10 years ago today we launched this site as H2Vista.net. Yes, it's been that long. We are old. To really put that in perspective, if this site was a child, it would be be starting 5th grade in September.
Yet despite that horrendous failure of Halo 2 on Windows Vista game, the Halo modding community is still strong, with a 15 year old game engine. That's really damn impressive.
Thank you everyone for the great memories, and for being part of the Halo community.
PS: While we may not have another halo game to mod like Halo CE, remember that Halo 5 Forge is coming to PC on September 8!


text: It was February 20, 2003. A late Thursday night concert had gone horribly bad in West Warwick,RI. I'm usually a sound sleeper, but for some reason I awoke at 4am that next morning and turned on the television. Horrific images greeted early morning news viewers. I could not believe what was before my eyes. The news reporters, at the early stages of this tragedy, were reporting somewhere in the ballpark of 19 dead, as I remember. Boston Herald staff photographers Matt Stone and Robert Eng had already been down there for many hours. I would soon join them with a bevy of reporters, some who had also been there overnight. Once there, I took up a position where a Rhode Island state trooper told me to go. I was happy to see my friend Curtis Bailey, a WCVB Tv videographer. We were told that the victim count was now at 30. One of the first things that I noticed was the caring response by the fire and police officials who had the grim task of bringing out one, after another of the victims. After each person was carried out, a small semi-circle of officials would huddle and say a prayer. After about 35 of these prayer vigils, I turned to Curtis and said something to the effect of: "Wow, I think that's more than the 30 or so (victims) that we had thought." Curtis answered me by saying that his reporter, I believe to have been Amalia Barreda, had said she now heard the count was at a staggering 50. The Station Nightclub fire victim count grew to 100. Below are three of my photos from that morning. Thanks for viewing.


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Millet, Sunflower, Flax, Amaranth and Sesame Naturally Leavened Sandwich Bread.
I'm on a mission to not buy anymore bread. Sure, I'll still buy loaves from bakeries that I respect or that have an interesting loaf I want to try but when it comes to my daily sandwich loaves I've decided to make them myself from here on out.
Why did I decide this? For one thing, I know how to make bread and I like doing it so it'd be kind of dumb not to. But the real reason stems from a recent visit to the local health food supermarket. While browsing the aisles, I decided to take a look at some sandwich breads and find out what they're made of. I expected the loaves at this store to contain whole ingredients with no added chemicals considering this was a health food store. For the most part the loaves had decent ingredients but I was surprised to find that almost every single sandwich loaf contained added gluten. I was a bit disappointed. I'm definitely not one to jump on the "gluten is evil" bandwagon, in fact I love gluten, but could the fact that we're pumping pure gluten into supposedly healthy loaves of bread have something to do with the rise in people who can't seem to tolerate it? I don't really have the answer to that question(and it doesn't seem like food scientists do either yet) but I do think I could do better than these supermarket breads from both a health and flavor standpoint. My goal is to make great tasting sandwich breads that are healthy and last a long time. I will try to document many of them here.
The first loaf I've made in this endeavor is a naturally leavened 75% whole wheat sandwich loaf packed with seeds. If my goals are to have a tasty, healthy and long lasting loaf then I think I've definitely found it with this bread.
Flavor & Texture
The combination of toasted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, millet, amaranth and flax seeds is insanely delicious. Honestly, it kind of blew me away. It has a perfect nuttiness that makes me want to eat endless slices of this bread on its own with nothing on it. The grocery store loaves this loaf is replacing cannot compete. The 75% whole wheat adds a nice robustness while still allowing for a nice open and soft texture.
I recently read the bread chapter in Michael Pollan's new and highly fascinating book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, which I highly recommend reading as it was super informative about wheat, milling and the health properties of bread, and two things really stuck out in my mind regarding health.
One, is that the way in which grain is milled has a substantial effect on the level of nutrition it contains. For example, the industrial method of milling uses roller mills and first separates the germ and bran(the healthiest parts of wheat) from the endosperm. This creates white flour. So when a big flour company wants to make whole wheat flour it must first make white flour and then add the germ and the bran back to the white. Apparently, many of the nutrients available in the wheat kernel are lost in this process. Traditional stone milling keeps the bran, germ and endosperm together at all stages of the milling process and preserves the entire nutritional spectrum of the wheat. Who knows what method of milling created the flour in the super market loaves!
Another thing that Pollan explains very well in his book is that whole wheat breads are made significantly more nutritious when used in combination with a sourdough culture. This is because the sourdough breaks down enzymes in the wheat that inhibit nutrient absorption in your body. The sourdough almost pre-digests the grain for you, making it easier to digest and significantly healthier.
Given these two bits of information I decided to make this bread(and all future sandwich breads I make) with flour that has been stone milled and using a sourdough starter. This bread features hard red wheat flour from Community Grains, a flour company that stone mills and uses only wheat grown in California(might as well go local too!). It's also completely naturally leavened with a long bulk fermentation in the fridge to ensure that the grain is well broken down by the acids in the sourdough.
Long Lasting
I have made sandwich loaves in the past that were really good for the first couple days and then started to become very weak, dry and crumbly after that. It's hard to eat an entire loaf of bread in a couple days if you're only using it for your daily sandwich. So with this loaf I also wanted to put a focus on keeping quality. I did three things to help extend the life of the bread:
- I used sourdough which lowers the Ph of the bread(more acidic) which gives a stronger structure to the final product and inhibits mold growth.
- I used apple cider vinegar which has similar effects as the sourdough and acts as a preservative.
- I made this very high hydration at 95%. In my experience, the wetter your dough is the longer it takes to dry out. Some bakers, such as Richard Bourdon, also believe that wetter doughs allow the starches in the dough to cook more fully making the final product more digestible.
Formula - Seeded Naturally Leavened Sandwich Bread
Enough said about this bread, lets get to the formula!
Toasted Seeds and Grains
|Baker's %
|1500g. Loaf
|Sesame Seeds
|Sunflower Seeds
|Flax Seeds
- Toast the sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, amaranth and millet in an oven at 400F for around 15 minutes or until golden. Stir seeds every few minutes to ensure even toasting.
- Do not toast the flax seeds as doing so will give them a very fishy and unpleasant flavor.
- Allow toasted seeds to cool and reserve.
Final Dough
|Baker's %
|1500g. Loaf
|Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour
|Bread Flour
|Olive Oil
|Apple Cidar Vinegar
|Seeds and Grains
Process(Hand Mix)
- Combine the flours and 434g. of water in a bowl with hands. Desired dough temperature: 76F. Autolyse for 30 mins.
- Squeeze in the sourdough, salt, vinegar, oil and remaining 50g. of water into the dough with hands. Dough will breakdown and then come back together. At this point squeeze in the seeds and grains until the dough comes back together again.
- Fold the dough every 30 mins until you've reached four folds. Keep the dough in the fridge after the first two folds.
- Finish the bulk fermentation overnight in the fridge for 8-16 hours.
- Dump the dough out on the bench and de-gas fully. Preshape into a boule. Let rest and come up to room temp 1-2 hours.
- De-gas fully again and shape into a sandwich loaf(see Lesson one on this site for shaping help). Put into an oiled 9x5in loaf pan.
- Allow dough to proof for 4-4.5 hours at 84F.
- Bake at 450F for 20 minutes with steam and another 20 minutes without steam. Don't vent(I like a softer crust on my sandwich loaves
- De-pan and allow to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing!
This loaf definitely met all my requirements of a good sandwich loaf. It is very tasty with the seeds and a very mild sourness from the sourdough. It is extremely healthy and so far after 4 days of use it still has a very soft and moist crumb. Success!
Submitted to Yeast Spotting


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#179 – Insomnia
I'm actually a very heavy sleeper. Once when I was a kid a drunk driver came down the hill and crashed into my sisters car parked on the street outside my bedroom window. I didn't know about it until the next day when I found some cool colored plastic in the driveway. I showed it to my mom and that's when she told me what had happened.


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Vincent C. necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 383 diseños de 83 diseñadores freelance.
Teqqi Solutions Inc.
Teqqi Solutions Inc. is a new company and therefore we do not have an official logo or branding yet, so let your imagination run wild. We offer quick, affordable and to-the-point technical support and technical workflow optimization consulting to SMBs.
Demographics: small and medium sized businesses
I want the logo to reflect a sense of calm and security (since we solve issues, we don't create them). Therefore the colours should be "sobre" or in other words easy on the eyes. Please stay away from very bold colours such as bright red, bright yellow, bright orange, etc. It must look good on a white background at the least, but feel free to experiment with secondary colours.
The company name "Teqqi" must be clearly distinguishable, either in all caps or regular capitalization.
Although it must be serious enough to represent real business services, it can be slightly playful to give a sense of friendliness.
Do NOT include "Solutions Inc." in the logo even though the idea of a solution could be represented in graphical form. But please stay away from solution clichés such as puzzle pieces, gears, lightbulbs, etc. I want this to be an original logo.
The attached logo is an experiment only, your design does not have to resemble it in any way, but we like the idea of having a "Teqqi" mascot.
A final version in vector format is required. Thanks.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Well, this can't be encouraging news. Last month, it was reported that director Paul Greengrass, who helmed the too most recent installments of the "Bourne" movie franchise, had dropped out of making a fourth Bourne film. Now Empire Magazine has gotten this quote from Jason Bourne himself, newly minted Best Supporting Actor nominee Matt Damon:
"There'll probably be a prequel of some kind with another actor and another director before we do another one," he said, "just because I think we're probably another five years away from doing it – we've got to get a script…"
Nightmare flashbacks to "Dumb And Dumberer" are currently dancing around in my head. My hope is that Damon said what he said strictly as a bargaining posture, because it's darn near impossible to imagine a "Bourne" movie without Damon assuming the titular role, such was the awesomeness of both his performances in the role and the films that resulted.
The "Bourne" films are now entering the same kind of creative limbo that is affecting the "Spider-Man"franchise, with a studio seemingly prepared to start from scratch despite already having a successful formula already in place (even more so for the "Bourne" series).
There should, undoubtedly, be a fourth Bourne movie. But it should star Damon and be directed by someone who shares the intense sense of immediacy that Greengrass and original director Doug Liman brought to the franchise.
There will be a day when Damon is either too old or too worn out to play Bourne again, but that time has yet to arrive. It isn't yet time to find his Roger Moore. Maybe a decade from now.
Here's hoping Damon's proven wrong, and we get the fourth "Bourne" movie we so desperately want.


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The Old Trainer: Volunteer experience a must for any aspiring dog trainer
D EAR OLD TRAINER: I am finishing my sophomore year in high school and love dogs. We have three that I feed and exercise. I am interested in a job being a trainer or dog walker or something where I can be around dogs and maybe make some money too. Can someone my age do that?
DEAR MADISON: Yes. President John F. Kennedy said, "Age is no barrier to leadership." There has never been a better time for young people to get involved in the business of caring for dogs, but you must have experience. People will not entrust their pets to you until you prove you know how to care for them.
Taking care of your own dogs is a good start, but I advise you to volunteer at a local shelter. You get immersion training on how to instantly evaluate a dog and what it needs, how to care for them, and a better understanding of canine psychology. You'll learn how to deal with strange dogs and make them happy.
Once you do, there is a growing industry that is the perfect place for someone your age to start – pet sitting and boarding. It's a lot of responsibility because people expect you to be perfect in the way you care for their pets.
To better understand the business, visit this website: www.dogvacay.com.
This company lists people in the pet setting business in your area. Study the bios, how they list their services, and how much they charge. Explore the website.
Decide which services you can perform and what you will charge. Design a flier for yourself listing what you offer, how much you charge, and your experience. Explain why you are a good pet setter. Hand it out in your part of town and at the dog park. Give it to everyone you see with a dog.
Start by taking care of pets of your friends and neighbors when they are out of town, or checking on them and walking them when the owner is at work. If you don't think you are ready for that, contact the local people on that website and ask for a job.
When you get enough experience to feel you are a professional, submit your material to that website so your services will be listed.
Everyone with a dog is a potential customer, and once you prove you are reliable you'll get their business over and over.
DEAR OLD TRAINER: We have four dogs and just moved to a house with five acres of land. There is a fence around the yard, but nothing around the entire property. We're considering an electronic fence, but only if it is foolproof.
DEAR CARL: They work, but are not foolproof. They short out for various reasons, long hair can stop the collar from working, and electricity can go out after a storm. Some dogs learn to ignore the minor shock when they want to see if the grass really is greener.
The fences work fine with well-trained dogs that like to stay close to home. If your dogs are not trained or if they like to ramble, it is best to get a wire fence.


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Looking for a Pet Friendly Inn in New Orleans?
At Southern Comfort Bed and Breakfast, we love both our guests and their pets. Being pet-friendly is another reason that we believe our B&B is a perfect spot for your next New Orleans getaway. We know how important … Continue reading


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Banwell is a village and civil parish on the River Banwell in the North Somerset and dates back to Saxon times when it was first listed as Bananwylle in 904. [2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
By the time the Domesday Book of 1086, the place name has evolved to being known as Banwelle. [3]CITATION[CLOSE]
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8) "The manor has been in the possession of the bishops of Bath and Wells since the time of Edward the Confessor. A monastery was founded at Banwell by one of the early Saxon kings, to the abbacy of which Alfred the Great appointed Asser." [4]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
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8th Annual "Pick Up the Burn"
8th ANNUAL PICK-UP THE BURN
Saturday - September 25, 2010
Piston's Wild Motorsports is proud to be hosting the 8th Annual Pick Up the Burn in cooperation with the Pacific Cascade Region of the Department of Natural Resources.
This will be our fourth year in a row hosting this event and we have some very lofty goals to achieve. We are hoping to make this year's event "The Largest Volunteer Event on record for National Public Lands Day in Washington State". To achieve that goal - we are going to need everyone's help. Please join us for whatever time you have available - two hours or all day - your participation at this event is crucial to the success of the Yacolt Burn ORV Recreation Area.
Please meet at the Jones Creek Trailhead (directions below) on Saturday from 8:00am - 10:00am to sign up, choose your task and get any supplies you may need.
To start the day off right -- Woody's 4x4 will be providing "Krispy Kreme" donuts for your breakfast.
After a long hard days work of cleaning up the forest please join us from 2:00pm - 4:00pm back at the Jones Creek Trailhead where Northwest Off-Road Outfitters and Region 3 of the Pacific Northwest 4-Wheel Drive Association have provided the funding for an appreciation lunch for all volunteers. Reps from Northwest Off-Road Outfitters and members of Piston's Wild Motorsports will be serving.
Special thanks go out to Waste Connections for donating dumpsters for all of the garbage as well as taking care of of the disposal costs.
We would also like to thank the local Les Schwab Tire Centers for handling the logistics for receiving and recycling the tires that have been dumped in the forest.
In addition to all of the great sponsors listed above, we would like to extend our appreciation to Sunbelt Rentals in Vancouver for providing us with an off-road forklift again this year for the collecting of hulk vehicles from the forest.
Contact Nick Cronquist (DNR) at (360) 575-5016 if you have any general questions about this event.
Please contact Crystal Crowder (Piston's Wild) at (360) 606-1648 if you have any questions about the 4x4 community's participation in this event.
Driving Directions to the Jones Creek Trailhead:
- From either northbound or southbound I-5, take I-205 exit towards Vancouver, WA.
- Use Hwy 500 East (Exit 30-Orchards Exit).
- Go east on Hwy 500 to Fourth Plain (1st light) and turn right continuing on Hwy 500 East (Camas).
- Go 6.3 miles, turn left on 53rd St.
- Go 3.2 miles, turn left on Ireland Rd.
- Go .3 miles turn left on Lessard Rd.
- Continue on Lessard Road for 4 miles and follow signs to Jones Creek ORV.
Crystal Crowder
aka "Pistons Chick"
Club President 2007 - 2014
Piston's Wild Motorsports
WOHVA - Vice President
PNW4WDA Member for 28 Years
(360) 606-1648
"SARCASM - because beating the crap out of people is illegal."
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This module covers basic injections for pigs (IM, IV, SC).
William Singleton, DVM, ACLAM, Dipl.
A board certified laboratory animal veterinarian having over 15 years experience working in the laboratory animal field. He has over 7 years experience in the development and implementation of training programs in the pharmaceutical industry and academic institutions. William is an active member of the laboratory animal community and professional organization that promotes the health and well being of research animals. His strong passion and vision for quality training has been part of the driving force behind the creation of ACTS.
Paula Clifford, MLA, RLATG, CVT.
Paula Clifford strongly believes in the empowerment of the individual through knowledge resulting in the highest quality of care and use for research animals. She has fourteen years experience in the laboratory animal science industry, the last ten focused on developing, implementing, providing, and assessing training programs in support of animal based biomedical research. Paula has a Masters of Liberal Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. Her graduate work focused primarily in training program evaluation for animal care and use programs. She obtained her Bachelors degree from Rutgers College, and an Associate's Degree in Applied Science (for Veterinary Technology) from Camden County College. She is currently a licensed veterinary technician and AALAS Certified as a Registered Laboratory Animal Technologist. In 2009, she was recognized for her contributions to training in the laboratory animal science field at National AALAS by being awarded the Collins award. She is an active member of many organizations that promote education.


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Kings Park couple charged in shooting
A Kings Park woman reported missing last week and her boyfriend, also from Kings Park, each face an attempted murder charge after a shooting inside a New Orleans hotel room Tuesday, officials said.
Sara Mott, 27, had been reported missing to Suffolk County police on June 20, officials said. Court records show she had a drunken-driving case pending in Suffolk.
New Orleans police said Mott was wounded in the shooting, which left a 49-year-old Florida man in critical condition. Police said Mott's boyfriend, identified as Kevin Cahill, 29, shot the man inside a room at the Wyndham Garden Plaza in the Central Business District about 9 a.m. Tuesday. They said Cahill accidentally shot Mott in the foot and she initially was hospitalized in good condition.
Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office records show that Mott was charged with attempted first-degree murder and was being held.
The court records show Cahill has been charged with attempted first-degree murder as well as negligent injuring, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and illegal possession of stolen property.
Bail bond was set in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court at $635,000 for Cahill and $250,000 for Mott. Both are due back in court Aug. 26.
According to a narrative provided Newsday by New Orleans police, Cahill and the victim were "involved in an argument" inside the room at the Wyndham, when Cahill produced a gun and shot the victim "multiple times."
During the shooting, police said, Cahill "inadvertently shot his girlfriend [Mott] in the foot."
Cahill and Mott then fled the scene, police said, but were caught a short time later.
Police said drugs and a handgun were recovered at the scene, but declined to elaborate, citing the continuing investigation into the crime.
Suffolk police declined to comment further about Mott, saying Wednesday only that she "is no longer considered a missing person" and referring all calls to the police department with jurisdiction.
With Ellen Yan
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Last night, a few hundred lucky readerfolk and museum fanboys got the chance to steal away into the American Museum of Natural History for an after hours, behind-the-scenes tour of one of the great nerd meccas in the world.
The evening's revelries began in the Hayden Planetarium, where we got a quick tour of the Digital Universe Atlas. Pluto drew raucous applause (the open bar had started by then), and we all did our best to sully the experience by tweeting through presentation (check out #AMNHTweetup), thereby inserting shadows of our heads into the farthest reaches of the universe.
Then it was time to break off onto the private tours. I got to see the Cryogenics facilities with Dr. George Amato, Director of the Center for Conservation Genetics and self-professed baby-crocodile wrangler. I was expecting a real world Jurassic Park, but it's actually more like modern science's Noah's Ark, as one reader put it. They have 70,000 tissue samples from various species around the world, which are kept cool (-160 C) by a freaking 6,000-gallon tank of liquid nitrogen that sort of looks like a humongous septic tank. A few readers even got to take a peek into the cryo-tanks and risk falling in and having their heads crack off like the T-1000.
I also got to tag along to the Computational Biology presentation, where Dr. Ward Wheeler, the Invertebrate Zoology Curator, talked about the mind-breaking amount of computing power that's involved in sequencing genes, and what that information can tell us about evolutionary patterns. Then we got to see—and feel!—the AMNH's giant squid specimen. That's right: Roll with Giz and io9 and you get to touch the Kraken.
It's too bad everyone couldn't get in on all the great tours going on. The stuff I missed and wish I didn't included a tour of the microscopy imaging facilities; an astrophysics discussion; a look into the MorphoBank, the crowdsourced database of datapoints and images of all life on Earth; and highlights of the ways that the museum uses technology in its exhibits.
Thanks again to the AMNH for letting us party in the museum after hours, and thanks to all the readers who came out and made the night so great.
You can keep up with Kyle Wagner, the author of this post, on Twitter and sort of Google+.


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Swimming Pool Blog
Top 5 Pool Pump Problems
by Sean Griffin, March 31 2010
Top 5 Pool Pump Problems
Spring is here and summer is right around the corner. For most of us it was a record breaking winter and who can blame those who are anxiously anticipating opening up the swimming pool. For those in the snow-belt who close down their pools your equipment has been laying dormant and needs to be put together and restarted. This is often a time when you might encounter a problem at the equipment pad. We will discuss the top five issues that arise concerning your pool pump…the heart of the filtration system. These top 5 are also applicable to pools that run year round.
#1) Pool Pump Will Not Start There are several possible explanations as to why your pool pump will not start. Remember the old adage, "the problem lies where the power dies". First, ensure power is making it to the pump. Check all breakers from inside the house to any subpanel the equipment is receiving power from. Check all time-clocks and automated controls to ensure correct settings. You can even listen to hear if you are tripping a breaker as you turn on power or if the motor is humming. If you are comfortable with using an electric test meter you can access the terminals by removing end cap of motor. At that time ensure circuit boards and wiring is in good condition. Once confirmed that power is being delivered to the motor we can deduce the issue lies internally with the pump. The motor could be seized, the capacitor bad or a wire in the rear of the motor could be disconnected or otherwise shorted.
Usually, the issue is a bad capacitor. If the shaft on the motor spins freely, we can assume that the capacitor is not storing enough energy to start pump. If the shaft does not spin the motor is seized internally or is being restricted by a pump component. You can pull the motor from the pump to see if this frees up shaft. If it does, the issue lies within the pump housing. Check for warping or deformed or cracked impeller, diffuser or volute. Capacitors are essentially batteries to jump start the motor quickly up to 3450 rpm. You can test a capacitor with an Ohm meter to determine their stored capacity.
If the motor is removed from the pump and is receiving power, but not "turning over", the pump motor may be seized. Bearings and windings can seize and rust, especially during long periods of inactivity. A seized motor will try to start, making a humming or buzzing sound, and eventually, usually, trip the breaker. The solution is to get a wrench on the back of the shaft, under the centrifugal switch, and repeatedly move the shaft back and forth, to break the rust bond. It sometimes takes 5-10 minutes to free it up. If it still won't start, with the shaft turning freely, and the capacitor is good, then you may have shorting across internal windings, which usually means a new pool pump motor is in order.
#2) Pump Will Not Stay Primed Once again it is a game of deduction. First, start at poolside. Ensure air is not being drawn in through a skimmer. Check to be sure that the pool water level is appropriate and no vortex is being created. Sometimes skimmer weirs get stuck in an up position, blocking the entrance to the skimmer. Next, check the suction pipes/valves and pool pump. Make sure valve lids are all tight, and pump drain plugs have the proper o-ring or Teflon tape. Hose clamps that connect any poly piping should be re-tightened. Another common place is right at the pump lid. Ensure all pump lid o-rings and gaskets are in good condition and are not dry rotted.
Check the intake port on the pump - another area that is prone to vibration and heat and therefore makes it yet another candidate to be a place air can "get in". Use all your senses to locate any bad connection. Listen for the hissing of air sucking in or spraying of water out as you start and stop the pump. You may need to put some pressure on it! Using a drain king can be useful to pressurize the line from the skimmer up to the pump or filter. This is done with the pump off, a plug is placed inside the pump, or you can close the multiport valve or close a return line valve to isolate everything from the skimmer up to the point where you close it. Under pressure any leak or void in the suction side of your circulation system will result in dripping water (whereas under a vacuum it draws air in). Other components may have experienced freeze damage or warping. Inspect for pinholes, hair line cracks, or misshapen mechanisms.
#3) Pump is Leaking Often times a pump will leak or spray water affluent to the intake after water has become pressurized. Usually this can be explained by cracked or deformed components, o-rings, or a bad mechanical shaft seal. When water is pouring out behind seal plate where the shaft enters the housing it indicates a worn mechanical shaft seal and is need of replacement. A common leak on a pool pump is the connection on the return side. Such leaks on the effluent side (outflow) of the pump are usually caused by a schedule 40 pvc pool fitting shrinking. Using a schedule 80 or CPVC fitting will prevent this. Unions may need to have new o-rings, if you find that they are leaking.
#4) Pump Not Moving Water The pump is fully primed and there are no air leaks. The pump strainer either slowly fills with air or does not show sign of water movement at all. Well, there are two possible explanations. One is that the pump is cavitating or starved for water. There is either an obstruction in the suction line or the line is collapsed. Collapsed lines need to be re-plumbed and are usually associated with poly piping or flex line. If you suspect there might be an obstruction you may need to put pressure on a line and attempt to unclog. You can achieve this using a drain king or pressurized air. More commonly it may be an issue with the impeller. Either the impellor is clogged or is broken. Address either situation and rectify cause. A shattered pump basket would also cause this issue, with pieces lodging themselves in the impeller.
#5) Pump Costs Too Much to Run A high energy bill may mean your pump motor is drawing an excessive amount of power. The pump design may be causing this excess workload which leads to a higher amp draw and will be reflected on your bill. Motor and pump design has improved over the years and your pump may be outdated and due for an upgrade to a more energy efficient pump. Make sure you are running the pump the time required to keep water clean and not running in excess. A timing mechanism should be utilized to avoid running your pool manually or 24/7. Pump design and efficiency are among pool product manufacturer's top priorities. When your pump has seen better days you have several options to increase efficiency and lower your bill. Design has improved across the board. Variable speed pumps are the hot topic today as they consume only the energy needed to complete the task at hand and utilize state of the art internal components.