Spending Spree

The Washington Post has a report on what McCain-Feingold has brought about by limiting "soft money". A virtual forest of 527 groups has sprung up all over the political landscape and is wreaking havoc with local races. Enormous amount of money are being pumped into local races at a record pace. Many of the groups doing this are quite shadowy on both sides of the political aisle.

Politically active groups on both the left and the right are shelling out dollars faster than in any previous midterm election and focusing them intensely on the races that are up for grabs. Even with five weeks to go in the campaign, the $34 million in "independent expenditures" so far is nearly double the amount spent in the entire 2002 midterm election, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.com.

This year's figure includes spending by the parties' House and Senate campaign committees, which unlike in 2002 are no longer allowed to coordinate directly with candidates for major ad buys, and by the "527" groups that emerged after an overhaul of funding laws that year.

Independent spending by political organizations — such as the George Soros-funded liberal group America Coming Together and the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which took aim at Democratic nominee John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record — was a defining force in the 2004 presidential campaign. What's notable this time, with control of Congress and many governorships at stake, is how such spending has migrated to elections for lesser offices.

During the 2004 election, Democrats seemed to benefit most from independent spending. Now the balance appears to be tilting rightward: America Coming Together and its companion group, the Media Fund, are largely shuttered. Meanwhile, a leading backer of the Swift Boat group, Texas developer Bob J. Perry, has donated $5 million focusing on top GOP target races.

But in Maryland, as in some other places, Democrats are still benefiting. The Maryland Fund, a 527 led by several national Democratic operatives with ties to the state, started airing television and radio ads last week critical of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who is being challenged by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D). The ads seek to link Ehrlich to President Bush, whose approval ratings lag behind the governor's in the state.

Stephen R. Weissman, associate director for policy at the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, predicted that "in some key races, this outsider spending will be decisive."

Expenditures by outside interest groups have ballooned largely in reaction to the 2002 law banning "soft money," the uncapped contributions that previously filled the coffers of both political parties. Once those unlimited donations were outlawed for the parties, lobby groups started handing out the big money.

If anyone needed proof that McCain-Feingold was a disastrous piece of legislation, this is it. Political expenditures have actually increased with even less oversight than was possible before the so-called reforms. This dismal piece of legislation should be repealed.

US To Forgive Guatemala Debt, Preserve Nature

The US and Guatemala have signed a deal that will forgive $24 million in debt to the US in exchange to the protection of nature in that country. It is the largest such deal ever made.

Under the initiative, carried out with the help of two environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International Foundation, Guatemala will invest the 24 million dollars over the next 15 years to conserve key ecosystems, officials said.

"The signature of this agreement marks an historic step in the conservation of tropical forests in Guatemala, one of the most biologically diverse countries on Earth," said US Ambassador James Derham during a ceremony here.

"The funds will help conserve Guatemala's high altitude cloud forests, rain forests, and coastal mangrove swamps," he said.

Derham said the forests were home to hundreds of species of songbirds and waterfowl that migrate between the United States and Guatemala, as well as many rare and endangered species, including the quetzal bird, jaguars and margays.

The agreement was the biggest ever reached under the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998, which has seen similar debt-for-nature swaps with Bangladesh, Belize, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines and Panama, Derham said.

I don't expect we'll hear any praise for the deal from administration opponents. Much better than just forgiving the debt. This way the money goes to something useful for the entire planet.

Truth In Advertising At Last

All I can say is that it's about time. After all these years of calling politicians clowns, a real one is running for mayor of the city of Alameda, California. Kenny the Clown to be precise.

Kenneth Kahn, 41, a professional joker known as "Kenny the Clown," admits he's running a long-shot campaign for City Hall's top spot. Kahn has not previously run for an elected position and has never sat on a public board.

"People ask me, 'Do we really want to elect a clown for mayor of the city?'" he said. "I say, 'That's an excellent question.'"

Kahn's mother, Barbara, said her son doesn't have a chance, and Sylvia Kahn, a teacher, said her brother's candidacy is a "mockery of our system."

"I don't think it makes any sense, because, to me, running for mayor is not where you start as far as community involvement goes," she said.

Kenny's sister apparently prefers the run of the mill clown instead of the real thing. Would a debate between candidates use seltzer bottles or pies? What is the correct etiquette?

UPDATE: The Evil Spock interview with Kenneth "Kenny the Clown" Kahn. Which was very brave of Evil Spock, since he admits to suffering from Coulrophobia.

One Down

One less jerk mailing threatening letters filled with white powder. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have arrested a man who attempted to send two threatening letters to places president Bush is scheduled to appear. The man, an engineer at the closed Rancho Seco nuclear power plant, is suspected of sending 51 such letters - usually filled with baking soda and multiple threats against the president, first lady, vice president and just about anyone else he could think of.

Michael Lee Braun, 51, was appeared in court Monday on two federal charges of sending threats through the mail. The FBI said he also is a suspect in mailing dozens of similar threats since shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The charges are connected to two letters prosecutors said Braun mailed on Thursday to the Serrano Country Club and Serrano Visitors Center in El Dorado Hills, a tony community in the foothills east of Sacramento. Bush plans to appear at the club Tuesday afternoon in a campaign event for U.S. Rep. John Doolittle (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif.

The letters contained threats to Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Doolittle, according to an FBI statement.

"Anytime somebody's out there threatening offices and public servants, it's unnerving to say the least," Doolittle spokeswoman Laura Blackann said.

Spokesmen for the Secret Service declined comment.

A federal affidavit said that Braun has sent a total of 51 threatening letters since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The letters threatened the lives of the president, Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the affidavit said.

"Each of the letters contained a written threat, usually death by some kind of WMD agent (anthrax, toxic chemical poison, radioactive dust or improvised explosives) and some unknown, white, powdery substance, or items simulating a possible letter/package improvised explosive device," the affidavit said.

Authorities had the man under surveillance and watched him mail the two letters. They recovered the evidence and immediately executed warrants searching the man's home and offices.

Meanwhile, In The Real World

While the US political scene is taken up by strident political internecine warfare, vituperative charges and counter-charges and bumbling politicians, the rest of the world looks at how we conduct ourselves. Our allies become frightened and our enemies become emboldened.

North Korea announced it will perform a test of a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said that the U.S. would bring up North Korea's statement for discussion Tuesday morning in a regular meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

"A nuclear test by North Korea would be extraordinarily serious," Bolton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The threat is serious enough that we're certainly going to take this action in the council this morning, by raising it."

Using the acronym for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's Foreign Ministry said in the official English translation of its statement that: "The DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed."

The statement gave no precise date of when a test might occur.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso called the purported nuclear test plan a threat to peace, and said a nuclear test would have graver implications than North Korean missile tests in July. Aso called the North's self-described plan "totally unforgivable," and said Japan would react "sternly" if the North conducted a nuclear test, according to Kyodo News agency.

China, North Korea's neighbor, ally and chief benefactor, had no immediate comment. The North Korean announcement appeared to have caught Chinese officialdom off-guard, coming in the midst of a weeklong National Day holiday.

Pyongyang has said it has nuclear weapons, but is not known to have conducted any test to prove its claim. It has not mentioned a nuclear test in previous public statements.

"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," said the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The North's "nuclear weapons will serve as reliable war deterrent for protecting the supreme interests of the state and the security of the Korean nation from the U.S. threat of aggression and averting a new war and firmly safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula under any circumstances," the statement said.

Now an Asian nuclear arms race will likely be developing to join the one that will be occurring in the Middle East soon as Iran advances. The path to a war is suddenly very short and very straight.