Sad news from the Indian Ocean. The pirates that seized the Quest on Friday and took four Americans hostage, owners Scott and Jean Adams and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, have shot and killed all four.

The US central command said that negotiations were under way with the pirates when the US forces heard gunfire, boarded the yacht and found the four American bodies.

"As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors," general James Mattis of US central command said in a statement.

The U.S. had sent four navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, to the scene. After boarding the ship, two pirates were killed and 15 have been detained. The Adams had been sailing around the world on the ship since 2004. What a tragic way for their journey to end.

The New York Times has more details here, and says 13 pirates have been detained. Some background on Somali pirates is here and here.

James Joyner reports on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's explanation for exempting police and firefighters from his assault on collective bargaining rights makes sense. Joyner wrties:

On NPR this morning, Walker answered that he couldn’t take the risk of cops and firefighters going out on strike and allow mayhem to ensue. But that’s an appeal to consequences — and a very dangerous one — rather than a principled reason.

How does this explain why Walker is exempting police and firefighters from his assault on collective bargaining rights? Indeed, unless police and firefighters are not prohibited from striking by law (think PATCO), permitting them collective bargaining rights makes the use of a strike more likely, not less. Indeed, Walker's argument provides stronger support for limiting the collective bargaining rights of police and firefighters than for other state employees. After all, if state employees who are not police and firefighters can strike without causing mayhem, then there is less risk in permitting them collective bargaining rights. But of course nothing Walker has said on the subject has made any sense at face value.

Speaking for me only

David Brooks writes:

Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.

(Emphasis supplied.) With regard to corporations that do business with governments, David Brooks has not only not expressed similar concern, he has shown disdain for such concerns.

Indeed, if Brooks REALLY believed what he wrote, he would be a staunch opponent of privatization. Privatization creates even greater risks of creating situations where entities are "choosing those they negotiate with." More . . .

Is the time right to legalize marijuana? Should it be legalized? The Seattle Times makes a powerful argument for legalization now and passage of Washington state's HB 1550. Can Washington succeed where California failed? An analysis of the bill is here. The Times says,

Pass HB 1550. Legalize cannabis, regulate it, tax it. It is radical, yet commonsensical.

Its reasons: The cost of marijuana prohibition: [More...]

How are you spending the holiday? Michelle Obama and the First Daughters are skiing in Vail. Michelle ate at Kelly Liken's restaurant last night (remember Kelly from Top Chef? She made it pretty far.)

The first lady went to Restaurant Kelly Liken in Vail Village on Saturday night, dining on a pickled pumpkin salad with arugula and a braised ancho-chile short rib with hominy wild mushrooms and sauteed kale.

Check out Sasha's cool boots.

Al Gore spent the weekend addressing global warming in Aspen. Veep Joe Biden spent it in Key Largo.

And the President? He was at home, and coached Sasha's basketball team in Maryland, even though she was skiing in Vail.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

(photo from Rocky Mountain Diner website)

If you've spent any time in downtown Denver, you've probably eaten at the Rocky Mountain Diner. At 18th and Stout Streets, it's one block from the old federal courthouse and the federal court of appeals, three blocks from the new federal courthouse. The Diner is housed in the historic Ghost Building, designed by architect William Lang in the 1800's for a man name A.M. Ghost.

The seats start filling up at 11:30 am, by noon, there's a wait. The food is terrific and plentiful (lunch menu here, dinner menu here, dessert menu here) and the atmosphere inviting and familial. To call it a Denver institution is not an overstatement. [More...]

One of the unexplored issues (at least in my internet travels) regarding the importance of public sector unions is the issue of whether federal labor laws can be applied to States and their subdivisions. One of the principal arguments, I would posit, for the critical importance of public sector unions is the strong possibility that federal labor laws do not apply to States (and their subdivisions) as States. That is, to States as employers. Absent federal standards, public sector employees, more so than even private sector employees, strongly rely on their unions to guarantee their rights. In order to flesh out this proposition, a review of the pertinent case law is in order.

In 1976, relying on principles of federalism, the Supreme Court, in National League of Cities v. Usery, declared that federal labor laws can not apply to the States as employers:

Via Kevin Drum, E.J. Dionne writes:

Washington is acting as if the only real problem the United States confronts is the budget deficit; the only test of leadership is whether the president is willing to make big cuts in programs that protect the elderly; and the largest threat to our prosperity comes from public employees. [. . .] Consider all of the problems taking a back seat to the deficit in Washington and the media.

[. . .] Lori Montgomery reported in The Post last week that a bipartisan group of senators thinks a sensible deficit reduction package would involve lifting the Social Security retirement age to 69 and reforming taxes, purportedly to raise revenue, in a way that would cut the top income tax rate for the wealthy from 35 percent to 29 percent. [. . .] Only a body dominated by millionaires could define "shared sacrifice" as telling nurses' aides and coal miners they have to work until age 69 while sharply cutting tax rates on wealthy people. I see why conservative Republicans like this. I honestly don't get why Democrats - "the party of the people," I've heard - would come near such an idea.

"Where's Obama?" Dionne asks:

What is the Obama Team up to on the budget and other political battles? The attempt, it appears to me, is to triangulate, and be perceived as the Sensible Center, as opposed to "Radical Right" Republicans and "Loony Left" Democrats. Consider this from the New York Times:

The battle in Wisconsin over public employee unions has left President Obama facing a tricky balance between showing solidarity with longtime political supporters and projecting a message in favor of deep spending cuts to reduce the debt. [. . .] Republicans [have] seized the opportunity to depict Mr. Obama as siding against deficit-cutting efforts, [but] some Democrats and union organizers said the political benefit ultimately could be theirs.

"Some Democrats and union leaders" mistake Obama's "political benefits" with their own. Obama's is to win reelection in 2012. Union organizers and, hopefully, "some Democrats," are to represent their constituents. Their interests are not perfectly aligned. Consider Obama's interest in being perceived as being in "favor of deep spending cuts." Since The Deal, Obama has been in favor of losing the argument about the deficit (it's not about tax policy, it's about spending - the Norquist Message, is now the Obama Message) in order to win reelection in 2012. That is not likely in the political interests of "some Democrats and union organizers." More . . .

CNN:

The current funding law expires March 4th and lawmakers are attempting to reach a short-term deal before leadership works out a more permanent resolution. [. . .] On Saturday the House passed a Republican measure to cut federal spending by $61 billion below current levels, which is $100 billion below the president's budget request for 2011 that was never enacted.

[. . .] Schumer said Democrats already agreed to $41 billion in cuts below the president's 2011 budget request – which is roughly the same as 2010 levels – and are now preparing "an emergency stop-gap measure to keep the government going so there's not a shutdown." "What we're proposing is that for a short time – a couple of weeks – we continue that $41 billion level while House and Senate negotiators come up somewhere in the middle," he said. "We are saying, 'Negotiate,' and they're saying, 'Do it my way' before any negotiations even begin."

Cut taxes on the rich in December 2010. Then cuts government services to all other Americans in March 2011. Congratulations Grover Norquist! You're the big winner! Now let's see how much you have won . . .

Speaking for me only

Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow and her mother sold $10.00 of marijuana to a police informant inside their home. Patricia's children were present. When the informant paid her, she asked her son for single dollar bills so she could make change. A few weeks later, the informant returned and bought $20.00 of pot.

Both women were first-time offenders. They were offered two years in prison and turned it down, pleading guilty without plea agreements. Patricia got ten years in prison, her mother got 30 years suspended, with five years of drug treatment. Both received fines in the thousands of dollars. Patricia was taken into custody immediately. She has effectively lost her four children and her husband. She was unemployed at the time, and the family had recently lost their home. She had previously been employed at a nursing home, as a certified nursing assistant and certified medical assistant, work she'll never get again when out of prison.

Here's what her life will be like in prison. Here's a photo of Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow in prison.She won't be up for parole until 2014. [More....]

Open Thread.