Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may make Earth's oceans more acidic faster than previously thought—unbalancing ecosystems in the process, a new study says.
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Sunday, November 30, 2008
AIG Pulls Fast One --"Cash Awards"
When you are a pro at a scam--the definition of "scam" also can be found under the term "insurance industry" -- you know how to try to pull a fast one. And AIG is trying to pull one -- under cover of the holidays. Check this out.
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Bush To Issue 20 'Highly Contentious' Rules In Final Weeks
One rule would allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. Another, issued last week by the Health and Human Services Department, gives states sweeping authority to charge higher co-payments for doctor’s visits, hospital care and prescription drugs.
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Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sewage Saturates Sadr City as Billions Fail to Reconstruct
Spare tires come in handy in Sadr City when lakes of sewage overflow trenches or bubble up from broken underground pipes. Pedestrians pull them from at-ready stacks to create a foot bridge across the excrement.
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Thomas Friedman: Citigroup Failed Every Step of the Way
Citigroup was involved in, and made money from, almost every link in the chain that resulted in the recent economic collapse. And the bank’s executives, including the former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, were clueless about the reckless financial instruments they were creating. These are the people whom taxpayers bailed out on Monday.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hillary Ineligible for Cabinet Post?
One thing does seem clear. It is, as John O'Connor put it, "beyond dispute that Senator Clinton is currently ineligible for appointment as secretary of State."
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Why America Feels Like it's Been Ruled by a Foreign Occupier
As Obama takes over the wreckage this country is in, one can't help but feel like something alien to America has been controlling it these past eight years. Here are a few of the parallels that I see...
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Monday, November 24, 2008
A 9-12 Commission needed - for truth and reconciliation
Iin March 2001, U.S. Archivist John W. Carlin received a letter from Alberto Gonzales, then counsel to the newly inaugurated president George W. Bush. It concerned an important deadline that was looming—one that Bush owed to Richard Nixon.In 1974, Congress ordered a lockdown on all records kept by the Nixon White House, afraid that the....
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Obama may delay tax-cut rollback for wealthy
Obama has called for reducing taxes for the middle class, but requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay more than the current top rate of 35 percent...His aides' comments suggest Obama may be wary of imposing any additional tax burden at a time of deep crisis
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Sunday, November 23, 2008
Books Not Bombs [VIDEO]
While the U.S. government is fighting Islamic extremism in Pakistan with bombs, private donations are quietly financing a more important campaign: education.
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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Co-President Hillary!!! and Prez Emeritus, Bill
What a bold and imaginative choice is Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Having lost the nomination for president, Hillary - with all of her uncontainable ambition - can play at being Secretary of State in the Obama administration, while still coveting and angling for the oval office. (By the way, after the very bad experience with Bush 41 and Bush 43, I have a new rule: Only ONE PRESIDENCY per family, please!! - surely there are other talented people in this nation who could fill high offices besides the Bushes and the Clintons. Or could I be wrong about the talent pool???)
Another plus: ex-Prez Bill Clinton could be right there at the Department of State with Hillary! Bill could take that 3 a.m. phone call if Hillary is otherwise occupied. He could say something like "Hillary's not here, this is Bill Clinton. Can I help you?" He could offer unsolicited foreign policy advice, for free. Two for the price of one!!! This is all providing that Bill is successfully vetted by the transition team and gets rid of all his international clients, his business interests and other conflicts of interest. This will be a neat trick to watch. In this regard, one is reminded, almost immediately, of the money connection involving the Marc Rich pardon and the Clinton Presidential Library. Money from Marc Rich was being funneled to Hillary's campaign for Senate in 2000, apparently, and to the campaigns of other Clinton friends. My guess is that lots of money was being funneled to then-Senate candidate Hillary via then-Prez Bill - just a wild guess. After a while, it all gets pretty darn incestuous and political inbreeding becomes rampant...
International money (not money from U.S. citizens and voters) and corporate money has been dumped - in the manner of a slush fund - into the Clinton Library largely because, unlike federal campaign contributions, these contributions are completely unregulated and unreported. I recall the question of money going to the Clinton Library being asked of Hillary by Tim Russert in one of the primary debates and Hillary dodged it.
But who in this country doesn't want to see 8 more years of Hillary and Bill in Washington and on the nightly news?
No doubt, as well, will the question of the lobbying and influence of Hillary's brothers, Hugh Rodham and Tony. But then again, the Senate might just overlook all this nasty stuff during Hillary's confirmation hearings and will rubber stamp "approved" for one of their own.
That reminds me: what of Hillary's confirmation hearings? Will the subject of Hillary's support of the war in Iraq be broached by the Senators? Or Hillary's failure to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in 2002 before her vote in October 2002? Did she actually believe what Vice President Dick Cheney was saying about a nuclear bomb in Iraq? Will there be any surprises during the confirmation hearings? etc...
Finally, I am tempted to ask: what was the point of the longest and most expensive primary in history of the nation, if the one candidate, Obama, was to become president and the other candidate, Hillary, is to become Co-president? Couldn't Obama and Hillary have worked this thing out long ago and saved us all, a lot of time and money? - and lots of debates and campaign commercials? etc...
Another plus: ex-Prez Bill Clinton could be right there at the Department of State with Hillary! Bill could take that 3 a.m. phone call if Hillary is otherwise occupied. He could say something like "Hillary's not here, this is Bill Clinton. Can I help you?" He could offer unsolicited foreign policy advice, for free. Two for the price of one!!! This is all providing that Bill is successfully vetted by the transition team and gets rid of all his international clients, his business interests and other conflicts of interest. This will be a neat trick to watch. In this regard, one is reminded, almost immediately, of the money connection involving the Marc Rich pardon and the Clinton Presidential Library. Money from Marc Rich was being funneled to Hillary's campaign for Senate in 2000, apparently, and to the campaigns of other Clinton friends. My guess is that lots of money was being funneled to then-Senate candidate Hillary via then-Prez Bill - just a wild guess. After a while, it all gets pretty darn incestuous and political inbreeding becomes rampant...
International money (not money from U.S. citizens and voters) and corporate money has been dumped - in the manner of a slush fund - into the Clinton Library largely because, unlike federal campaign contributions, these contributions are completely unregulated and unreported. I recall the question of money going to the Clinton Library being asked of Hillary by Tim Russert in one of the primary debates and Hillary dodged it.
But who in this country doesn't want to see 8 more years of Hillary and Bill in Washington and on the nightly news?
No doubt, as well, will the question of the lobbying and influence of Hillary's brothers, Hugh Rodham and Tony. But then again, the Senate might just overlook all this nasty stuff during Hillary's confirmation hearings and will rubber stamp "approved" for one of their own.
That reminds me: what of Hillary's confirmation hearings? Will the subject of Hillary's support of the war in Iraq be broached by the Senators? Or Hillary's failure to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in 2002 before her vote in October 2002? Did she actually believe what Vice President Dick Cheney was saying about a nuclear bomb in Iraq? Will there be any surprises during the confirmation hearings? etc...
Finally, I am tempted to ask: what was the point of the longest and most expensive primary in history of the nation, if the one candidate, Obama, was to become president and the other candidate, Hillary, is to become Co-president? Couldn't Obama and Hillary have worked this thing out long ago and saved us all, a lot of time and money? - and lots of debates and campaign commercials? etc...
Friday, November 21, 2008
National Intelligence Council: American Leading Role Fading.
The unclassified version of the NIC report that you can access from this article will tell you what most of us already know. The predominant role played by America will have decreased by 2025. The power on the rise will be China & India. This report was probably written before the global economic meltdown, this factor will speed up the process.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kathleen Parker: Fundies Are Killing The GOP
What Parker is doing here, as she clearly states, is just airing out what the Republican establishment has always thought -- that the religious right are a bunch of useful rubes (Lee Atwater's "extra-chromosome conservatives").
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Report: Rove Deeply Involved in U.S. Attorney Firings
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials at the Department of Justice engaged in a “cover-up” when they offered up reasons to explain the circumstances behind the firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006, according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Hillary Clinton problem: Vetting the Marc Rich pardon
Hillary's brothers Hugh and Tony Rodham were involved in the Marc Rich pardon:
from Wikipedia on Hugh Rodham
from Wikipedia on Hugh Rodham
In 1999, Hugh and brother Tony Rodham entered into a $118 million venture to grow and export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia.[10] The U.S. State Department and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger became upset, however, when the Rodhams' local business connection in Batumi turned out to be Aslan Abashidze, a major political opponent of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, then a key U.S. ally in the region.[12][10][18] After initial resistance,[12] Berger and the Clintons prevailed upon the Rodham brothers to drop the deal.[10][2] Hugh Rodham stated that he was only acting as a lawyer for the venture and did not have money invested in it.[12]
Episodes such as these led Hillary Clinton's White House staff to refer to Hugh and Tony as "the Brothers Rodham",[19] extending the American tradition of troublesome presidential siblings to the brother-in-law category;[12] one senior White House official would be quoted as saying, "You never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf."[19]
As the Clinton administration came to a close in early 2001, it was discovered that Hugh Rodham received around $400,000 for legal services regarding gaining the Presidential pardon of fraudulent businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali.[7] While legal experts said that Rodham may well not have done anything wrong, the appearance of possible impropriety certainly existed.[7] Moreoever, coming while the Bill Clinton pardons controversy was already in full force, this was a further embarrassment for the former administration and even got the attention of the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.[2] Hillary Clinton, now a newly-sworn-in Senator, said, "He's my brother. I love my brother ... I'm just extremely disappointed in this terrible misjudgment that he made ... I knew nothing about my brother's involvement in these pardons. I knew nothing about his taking money for his involvement."[2] Both Clintons pressured Rodham to return the $400,000, which he promptly did.[10] During this time, Rodham additionally collected media criticism for being overweight and a poor dresser.[10][18]
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Dick Cheney , Alberto Gonzales indicted by Texas grand jury
A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.
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Bush Administration Protects Bush Appointees
Bush "Burrowing" Political Appointees In Career Civil Service Jobs. The transfer of political appointees into permanent federal positions, called "burrowing" by career officials, creates security for those employees, and will initially deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.
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Sunday, November 16, 2008
Dick Cavett: The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla
Sarah Palin's recent media blitz felt more like an assault on the English language.Electronic devices dislike me. There is never a day when something isn’t ailing. Three out of these five implements — answering machine, fax machine, printer, phone and electric can-opener — all dropped dead on me in the past few days.Now something has gone wrong with all three television sets. They will only get Sarah Palin.I can play a kind of Alaskan roulette. Any random channel clicked on by the remote brings up that eager face, with its continuing assaults on the English Lang.There she is with Larry and Matt and just about everyone else but Dr. Phil (so far). If she is not yet on “Judge Judy,” I suspect it can’t be for lack of trying.What have we done to deserve this, this media blitz that the astute Andrea Mitchell has labeled “The Victory Tour”?I suppose it will be recorded as among political history’s ironies that Palin was brought in to help John McCain. I can’t blame feminists who might draw amusement from the fact that a woman managed to both cripple the male she was supposed to help while gleaning an almost Elvis-sized following for herself. Mac loses, Sarah wins big-time was the gist of headlines.I feel a little sorry for John. He aimed low and missed.What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?And how much more of all that lies in our future if God points her to those open-a-crack doors she refers to? The ones she resolves to splinter and bulldoze her way through upon glimpsing the opportunities, revealed from on high.What on earth are our underpaid teachers, laboring in the vineyards of education, supposed to tell students about the following sentence, committed by the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High and gleaned by my colleague Maureen Dowd for preservation for those who ask, “How was it she talked?” My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.(A cynic might wonder if Wasilla High School’s English and geography departments are draped in black.)(How many contradictory and lying answers about The Empress’s New Clothes have you collected? I’ve got, so far, only four. Your additional ones welcome.)Matt Lauer asked her about her daughter’s pregnancy and what went into the decision about how to handle it. Her “answer” did not contain the words “daughter,” “pregnancy,” “what to do about it” or, in fact, any two consecutive words related to Lauer’s query.I saw this as a brief clip, so I don’t know whether Lauer recovered sufficiently to follow up, or could only sit there, covered in disbelief. If it happens again, Matt, I bequeath you what I heard myself say once to an elusive guest who stiffed me that way: “Were you able to hear any part of my question?”At the risk of offending, well, you, for example, I worry about just what it is her hollering fans see in her that makes her the ideal choice to deal with the world’s problems: collapsed economies, global warming, hostile enemies and our current and far-flung twin battlefronts, either of which may prove to be the world’s second “30 Years’ War.”Has there been a poll to see if the Sarah-ites are numbered among that baffling 26 percent of our population who, despite everything, still maintain that President George has done a heckuva job?A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?Do this lady’s like-minded folk wonder how, say, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, et al (add your own favorites) managed so well without being soccer moms? Without being whizzes in the kitchen, whipping up moose soufflés? Without executing and wounding wolves from the air and without promoting that sad, threadbare hoax — sexual abstinence — as the answer to the sizzling loins of the young?(In passing, has anyone observed that hunting animals with high-powered guns could only be defined as sport if both sides were equally armed?)I’d love to hear what you think has caused such an alarming number of our fellow Americans to fall into the Sarah Swoon.Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult? (And yet…and yet…we did elect Obama. Surely not despite his brains.)Sorry about all of the foregoing, as if you didn’t get enough of the lady every day in every medium but smoke signals.I do not wish her ill. But I also don’t wish us ill. I hope she continues to find happiness in Alaska.May I confess that upon first seeing her, I liked her looks? With the sound off, she presents a not uncomely frontal appearance.But now, as the Brits say, “I’ll be glad to see the back of her.”**********PS: Lagniappe for English mavens: A friend of mine has made you laugh greatly over the years. David Lloyd is a comic genius (I can hear you wince, David) who wrote for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Cheers,” “Taxi,” “Frasier,” Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and me, not necessarily in that order. As a language fan, he has preserved many gems for posterity in his prodigious memory bank. Here comes my favorite:A Navy lecturer was talking about some directives on the blackboard that he said to do something about, “except for these here ones with the asteroids in back of.”
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New GM Poll: Most Americans Support an Auto Industry Bailout
Poll results released by General Motors today clearly indicate that the majority of Americans think the government should provide bailout loans to the auto industry and that without those loans the “Big 3″ (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) will go bankrupt. No big surprise on the poll results, as it was commissioned by GM.
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
Sanders Joins Leahy: Demands Lieberman lose chairmanship
We now have a second Senator who's stepped up and joined Senator Patrick Leahy in calling on Democrats to boot Joe Lieberman from his plum slot atop the Homeland Security committee: Bernie Sanders.
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GOP Abandons all Pretense, Hands Party Over to Good Ol' Boys
"So if Barbour does emerge a serious party leader, it will mean the GOP has thoroughly embraced its Cro-Magnon, neo-Confederate wing, and the dog-whistle rabble-rousing we saw from McCain and Palin in 2008 will look positively civil in comparison."
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Friday, November 14, 2008
Bill Ayers: Barack Obama a 'family friend'
In a new afterword to his memoir, 1960s radical William Ayers describes himself as a "family friend" of President-elect Barack Obama and writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama's political enemies to "deepen a dishonest narrative" about the candidate.
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
On ABC Radar: Secretary of State H.R Clinton in the Cabinet?
She has being on the short list with John Kerry, and even Former Secretary of State in the Clinton administration Madeleine Albright.
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9 Senate Republicans Could Face Defeat in 2010
In 2010, Senate Republicans will be on defense once more, defending more incumbent-party seats than Democrats for the third straight election cycle. And even before the Class of 2008 is sworn in, the DSCC is preparing strategies for upcoming battles in Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Kansas.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
5 Reasons Sarah Palin Would Lose a 2012 Presidential Bid
In an interview with Matt Lauer, Sarah Palin said, “if there is a door open in 2012 or four yeas later…then I’ll plow through that door.” If Palin tries to run for president against Barack Obama in 2012, she’ll get plowed over. She likely wouldn't even make it out of the GOP primary. Palin-watchers can pick from a plethora of reasons as to why.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Letter tying Iran to nuclear weapons push may be fabricated
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated. The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source.
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Monday, November 10, 2008
Palin Will Continue to Steal Cookies, She Says.
A newly released interview of Sarah Palin by KTUU and the Anchorage Daily News has left me speechless. I had to listen to it twice before I could really believe it. It’s a little over nine minutes, but it’s so filled with red meat, it’s going to keep me busy all day. Here’s the first installment:
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Obama’s win was sweeping, but did it show a realignment?
Realigning elections” are not things that can be judged in the moment. It takes time – and more elections .... Barack Obama’s win may mark the beginning of a new era in politics, or it may be the last angry action of an electorate that was fed up
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NPR already pooh-poohing Withdrawal from Iraq
Excerpts from this article at NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96719141
a version of this report was broadcast on Morning Edition
@@@@@@@@@@@
President-elect Barack Obama will soon inherit twin national security crises: two stubborn wars.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96719141
a version of this report was broadcast on Morning Edition
@@@@@@@@@@@
President-elect Barack Obama will soon inherit twin national security crises: two stubborn wars.
Whomever Obama taps to run the Pentagon will be burdened with finding a way out of Iraq and crafting a way to ease the fighting in Afghanistan. There's much speculation on who will lead the Pentagon next year and carry out those policies.
Iraq
Obama forged his campaign around his opposition to the Iraq war and turning over security to Iraqi forces.
snip~~~~~~~~~~
But can the incoming administration remove U.S. troops from Iraq that quickly?
Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says that although violence is down in Iraq, Obama may find it hard to withdraw American troops in large numbers given that the security situation is still so uncertain.
"And no one can predict at this point in time exactly what's going to happen with internal civil conflict in Iraq or that al-Qaida will be fully defeated or reduced to such a low level of operations that Iraq can operate on its own," says Cordesman.
He says Obama can withdraw American forces but maybe not as many as he promised his supporters.
Obama could find himself in political peril by removing too many U.S. troops, says Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.
In its "Memo to the President", NPR setting the agenda
snip................
Here at NPR, we have talked about all of these challenges in varying measure over the course of this campaign year. Now, as you and the new Congress prepare to take office, we wanted to return to each issue in turn and provide a more systematic catalog. So in the weeks ahead, as the transition goes forward, we will air a series of stories addressing these issues.
Here is a representative list of what we will offer, for you and our listeners. And there'll be more where these came from.
Economic Crisis
A lack of oversight, transparency and accountability in financial markets has brought on the worst crisis in decades. What needs to change for a viable 21st century financial regulatory system to emerge? NPR's John Ydstie has been following the national economy through three decades when free market philosophy was ascendant.
Collapsing Industries
Congress has approved a $25 billion bailout for America's troubled automakers. But should the new president be prepared to invest even more in helping to boost a new auto industry tailor-made for the 21st century? NPR's John McChesney takes a look at the manufacturing problem from a high-tech perspective.
National Security
Nearly the entire George W. Bush presidency has been defined by a focus on homeland security following the Sept. 11 attacks. The new president will have to decide what level of peril the country is in, and whether to keep or change the measures of the Bush administration. NPR's Pam Fessler has been following homeland security since the department was created in 2002.
Energy Costs
Gas prices may have dipped, but long-term they remain a hot-button issue for the next president. "Energy independence," off-shore drilling, home heating costs and how to encourage efficiency and renewable energy are some of the things the new president will have to wrestle with in the midst of an economic crisis that will make it hard to shift away from fossil fuels — our cheapest source of power. NPR's Chris Joyce has been exploring new sources of energy since the earlier outbreak of energy consciousness in the 1970s.
Health Care
Right after economic worries and war, health care has the attention of the public. Availability and cost of care are concerns for all, but 46 million Americans have no insurance at all — and millions of those who do are one serious illness away from financial catastrophe. Meanwhile, the spiraling costs of Medicare and Medicaid are threatening to swamp the federal budget. NPR's Julie Rovner has been charting the course of this issue since well before the 1994 health care reform came together and fell apart in Congress.
Global Warming
The United States lost its leadership in the international talks on global warming during the Bush administration. The new president will face a difficult deadline working to negotiate a follow-up to the Kyoto climate treaty. The United Nations has agreed to a deadline for negotiating a new pact by the end of next year and many difficult issues remain unresolved. NPR's Richard Harris has been on the climate change beat since before the second Bush presidency.
Executive Powers
The Bush administration spent two terms working hard to expand the power of the chief executive at the expense of the other two branches of government. The new president will have to decide what approach he'll take to constitutional checks and balances. NPR's Nina Totenberg casts a judicious eye on the separation of powers.
Equal Justice
The Justice Department is emerging from what many have called its most tumultuous period in decades. A new attorney general will have to restore the Department's credibility and work to counter perceptions that law enforcement decisions have become politicized. NPR's Ari Shapiro witnessed the rise and fall of Alberto Gonzales and the struggle of Michael Mukasey.
Private Contracting
Under the Bush administration, there's been a "quiet revolution" in the degree to which operations of the federal government have been turned over to private entities. Yet in all this there's been little attempt to measure how it's working, or how much it costs. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling takes the measure of privatization.
Immigration Rules
Efforts to overhaul the immigration laws have dropped off the radar, but the tension continues between people who believe immigrants hurt the job prospects of Americans and those who believe immigrants support the U.S. economy. And some public officials believe this is the moment for compromise on new immigration policies. NPR's Jennifer Ludden has kept her eye on a situation the presidential campaign ignored almost completely.
Telecommunications
Is America ready for the total transfer to digital TV? Is there a strategy to reach national broadband access? Is the government prepared to lead the way and make decisions that move billions of dollars? There will soon be a vacancy for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and guess who gets to fill it? NPR's Joel Rose provides a tour of the potential pitfalls.
Space Exploration
The United States is set to retire its aging fleet of space shuttles in 2010. NASA is currently on track to build rockets that could return astronauts to the moon, but they won't be ready until 2014 or later. The next president could save money by delaying development of that next generation rocket, but that would mean an even longer human spaceflight "gap" with no American space vehicle. But can we afford space when we can't afford better schools or health insurance for all? NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce notes how the space challenge has changed since John F. Kennedy took office in 1961.
Labor organizing
Democrats won the presidency and other offices with strong support from labor unions. And they are expected to be much more supportive of labor than President Bush. Can a new president deliver for labor in a way that doesn't harm companies being battered by a severe economic downturn? NPR's Frank Langfitt specializes in the role of labor in the new economy — and the new politics.
snip... preamble:
You (President Obama) may have earned the right to bask in this success and take some time off to relax. Unfortunately, this will not be possible. As you know, you and your party were borne to victory on a tide of bad news about the economy and about other aspects of our nation's present and our future.
We feel less secure economically in our country, less comfortable with our culture and less certain of our standing in the world than we have in many years. More than four out of five of us think the country is off on the wrong track. Americans have not been so downbeat about our situation since pollsters started asking this question more than a half-century ago.
Why do people feel this way? Bad as the economic news has been, it is not the only source of discouragement. Our national anxiety also stems from wars that continue in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in sight. Our troops have been engaged in these conflicts longer than they were in World War II. We are also concerned about our health care system. The quality may be world class, but the distribution of the best care is fraught with inequities and the cost is beyond the means of many. Energy costs have eased in recent months, but within this calendar year the price of oil was a greater burden than ever on our economy and our lifestyle.
Perhaps these are the most immediate worries that plague the voters who elected you. But the electorate has a still longer list of challenges in the longer term, some of them quite profound and each important in its own way.
Media Matters - It's not just Limbaugh and Hannity
Beyond the echelon of widely known conservative radio hosts with national audiences lies a vast network of lesser-known syndicated and regional radio hosts that are key components of an echo chamber for conservative talking points and falsehoods. Like their better-known counterparts, these radio hosts have played roles in promoting falsehoods.
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Sunday, November 9, 2008
BOYCOTT UTAH!!
Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage.
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BOYCOTT UTAH!!
Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage.
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Bush Adm Tries To Block Release Of Prisoner Abuse Photos
The government claimed that the public disclosure of such evidence would generate outrage and would violate U.S. obligations towards detainees under the Geneva Conventions.
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Friday, November 7, 2008
Sign the Petition: Strip Joe Lieberman
Make no mistake about it -- Lieberman was openingly threatening the Democratic caucus in his press conference today. Enough is enough. Please sign the petition to the Steering and Outreach Committee, telling them it's time for Joe to go.
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CBS mulled tapping Limbaugh, Coulter to probe 'memogate'
New court documents filed in Rather's ongoing $70 million lawsuit against his former employer reveal a list of figures the network considered appointing to the panel, including right-wing firebrands Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge."Only conservative lawyers were considered for the Panel," Rather's lawyers write. "[T]heir names were vetted by Viacom’s Washington lobbyists (as well as with unnamed 'GOP folks')."Included in the court papers were a list of "others" CBS considered: •William Buckley •Robert Novak •Kate O’Beirne •Nicholas Von Hoffman •Tucker Carlson •Pat Buchanan •George Will •Lou Dobbs •Matt Drudge •Robert Barkley •Robert Kagan •Fred Barnes •William Kristol •John Podhoretz •David Brooks •William Safire •Bernard Goldberg •Ann Coulter •Andrew Sullivan •Christopher Hitchens •PJ O’Rourke •Christopher Caldwell •Elliot Abrams •Charles Krauthammer •William Bennett •Rush LimbaughAlso included on the list was Boccardi; David Gergen, a former adviser to Presidents Reagan and Clinton; Gene Roberts, the former managing editor of the New York Times; and Dick Wald, the former NBC News president.
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read more | digg story
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Democrats pick-up 21 Houses seats - two in Michigan
Nationwide, Democrats unseated 12 Republican incumbents and captured nine open GOP seats, capitalizing on the unusually high 29 Republican departures. Republicans were only able to knock off four Democratic incumbents.With fewer than a dozen races undecided, Democrats had won 251 and were leading for another five. The Democratic edge in the curre
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read more | digg story
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Michigan goes left: passes Medical marijuana and stem cell research
| Prop 1-Medical Marijuana | |
| Precincts: 5763 Number Reporting: 5763 (100.00%) | |
| Votes | |
| Yes | 3,005,678 (62.64%) |
| No | 1,792,497 (37.36%) |
Both ballot proposals passed rather easily...
| Prop 2-Stem Cell | |
| Precincts: 5763 Number Reporting: 5763 (100.00%) | |
| Votes | |
| Yes | 2,520,240 (52.60%) |
| No | 2,271,071 (47.40%) |
BEHOLD!! the New and Blue Electoral College Map
NEW BLUE
states
Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio (oh), Florida (ouch)
and yes Virginia, even Virginia..
(wayward Red States, Missouri and North Carolina: status still to be determined)
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