By GottaLaff
President Obama will visit Turkey next month as part of a broader international trip, but an administration official said on Saturday that it would not be the site of the major address that he pledged to deliver in a Muslim capital during the opening months of his administration.That is all.
By GottaLaff
Authorities say a Georgia man was saved by his pants when he decided to climb 35 feet up a power pole and slipped. The pants luckily caught on the metal tower, stopping his fall.Gwinnett County Fire Department officials believe the 21-year-old man from Duluth, Ga., had been drinking and ignored a companion's suggestion he had climbed far enough up the pole.
No-o-o, he was drinking? Who would have guessed...
I hope nothing happened to the guy's "power pole".
After his pants caught, the man spent about two hours dangling before a rescue team climbed the tower and got him down.No dangling jokes. No dangling jokes. No dangling jokes...
By GottaLaff
Because there's absolutely nothing out there right now, you get an ad from the 1930s:
By GottaLaff
President Obama did something a little unusual. He actually called the New York Times back-- on his own-- after he had completed an interview. That's crazy! Who would do anything so conscientious?
Yes, this president actually uses his brain, processes information, communicates, and even realizes when he hasn't been thorough, or even collected his thoughts enough, and takes the time to explain himself more accurately. Kinda hard to fathom, huh?Usually, it’s President Obama (or one of his aides) who ends the interview, leaving reporters clamoring for more. Indeed, Robert Gibbs, his press secretary, cut off the president’s exclusive interview with The Times on Friday after about 35 minutes.
But less than 90 minutes after Air Force One landed, the telephone rang. President Obama called The Times’s Jeff Zeleny, wanting to add one more point to a response he gave during the interview.[...]
When he called, he said he had been thinking about the question as he boarded the helicopter taking him back to the White House.
By GottaLaff
Just thought I'd brighten your day. Want some more good cheer? Then by all means, read this, which will take you to this. Let me know when you're done.The argument that Obama is somehow responsible for the collapse of Wall Street is absurd. First, every major policy that led to this collapse occurred under George W.'s watch (or, more accurately, his failure to watch). The housing and financial bubbles were created under Bush and exploded under Bush. The stock market began to collapse under Bush.
Second, it's inevitable that stocks, led by the bloated financial sector, would lose their remaining hot air as the new administration begins "stress-testing" the big banks, many of which are technically insolvent. [...]
Finally, none of the financial wizards who are now charging Obama with leading America into the abyss have offered an alternative plan for getting us out of the mess that, not incidentally, many of these same wizards happily led us into. For years, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the financial gurus of cable news cheered as Wall Street leveraged its way into oblivion.
Republicans have made no secret of their wish to blame Obama for the bad economy, and to stir up as much populist rage against his so-called socialist tendencies as politically possible. History shows how effective demagogic ravings can be when a public is stressed economically. Make no mistake: Angry right-wing populism lurks just below the surface of the terrible American economy, ready to be launched not only at Obama but also at liberals, intellectuals, gays, blacks, Jews, the mainstream media, coastal elites, crypto socialists, and any other potential target of paranoid opportunity.
By GottaLaff
Remember this comment by Attorney General Holder at an event celebrating Black History Month.?
"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and we -- I believe continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards."President Obama is taking the discussion in another direction:
President Barack Obama says he would not have used the same language that Eric Holder did last month [...]"We've made enormous progress and we shouldn't lose sight of that," Obama told The New York Times in an interview posted on the newspaper's Web site Saturday.
The president said he understood Holder to be saying the country often is uncomfortable talking about race until there's a racial flare-up or conflict and that the nation probably could be more constructive in facing up to slavery and discrimination.
The first U.S. black president gently departed from the tone of the comments by the country's first black attorney general.
The president said he is not someone who believes that constantly talking about race can solve racial tensions. To address that problem, it will mean fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure that people have health care and ensuring that children are learning, Obama said.
"I think if we do that, then we'll probably have more fruitful conversations," Obama said in the interview Friday aboard Air Force One.
Did you know President Obama is black? I'm surprised they didn't call this "breaking news".
UPDATE: Audio of President Obama's remarks here.
By GottaLaff
A few days ago, I posted about the real possibility of the International Criminal Court going after Bush. Now we have video from LinkTV, plus another article making the rounds. It's good to see this topic getting a little traction:The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Sudan accuses the court of being politically motivated. Is there a double standard at play here? And is George Bush next?
Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease.
By GottaLaff
Via Think Progress, we learn that former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA), current Club for Growth president, says he'll challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in 2010. Since Specter v. Toomey in 2004 was pretty close, trying to beat him in 2010 might not exactly be a piece-o'-cake for ol' Arlen:
“I think he has a lot of problems,” said Terry Madonna, a professor of political science at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “I think this is the test of lifetime.”
Madonna estimated that between 150,000 to 200,000 centrist Republicans switched registration to the Democratic Party in the 2008 election cycle, leaving the remaining GOP electorate more conservative.
If Specter were to lose the primary, his choices will be, shall we say, limited:
With a tough primary challenge looming, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) "does not have the fall-back option of running as an independent should he lose his 2010 primary election, giving the senior lawmaker strong incentive to abandon his party this year," The Hill reports. [...]
[F]iscal and social conservatives have long viewed him as a bête noire.
| Outlet | US House Control | Name Sec State | Name UK PM | All Three |
| New Yorker/The Atlantic | 71 | 71 | 59 | 48 |
| NPR | 73 | 72 | 57 | 44 |
| Rush Limbaugh | 83 | 71 | 41 | 36 |
| Business Magazines | 71 | 64 | 46 | 36 |
| Local TV News | 55 | 44 | 28 | 16 |
| CNBC | 51 | 45 | 28 | 17 |
| TV News Magazines | 56 | 44 | 28 | 16 |
| All Resp | 53 | 42 | 28 | 18 |
This was from Thursday I believe, but I forgot to put it up. Enjoy!
By GottaLaff
Via Oliver Willis and Bob Cesca, who clarify the impact of the life-changing tax burden on those making $250,000 and over:
Since Cesca already took care of the snark, I'll cover the serious. Imagine what $4.10 a day could buy these people:The increased tax burden isn't $410 a day. It's $4.10 a day.
Four dollars and ten cents. Per day. [...]
The horror! I can see it now. Rich people surviving like they always have, but without an extra $4.10 a day, which is the equivalent of having to turn off the heater in their pools for the total length of time it took you to read this blog post.
By GottaLaff
The L.A. Times did a piece on this today. A few excerpts:
Obama's critics also conveniently forget to mention that the U.S. stock market meltdown this year isn't happening in isolation. Major European stock markets also are down more than 20% since Jan. 1. In Japan, the Nikkei index hit a 26 1/2 -year low this week.And The Motley Moose lays it out in a way even Rushpublicans can understand:
What's more, Obama isn't responsible for the cascade of securities-fraud cases that have come to light since December, when the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Wall Street veteran Bernie Madoff with running a $50-billion Ponzi scheme. [...]
Since Obama took office, the S&P 500 is down 20%. By contrast, the index jumped 34% in the first seven weeks after FDR was sworn in.
But it isn't a fair comparison. By the time Roosevelt came to power, the Great Depression and the accompanying stock market collapse were three years along.
Clear? Clear.It is time to push back against the claims being tossed out there by the Right and the investor class.
#1: The stock market is not the economy. It is only one indicator of how the economy is doing and not a very good indicator at that, since it is driven so much by emotions and the gambling instinct.
#2: This is not Obama's market. The market started to tank long before Obama was even considered a realistic candidate by most people. The movement since Obama took office is only a continuation of the current trend on the market.
#3: Economic policies aren't the major force on the market, yet. The biggest problem for the market is the global economy. It is still unknown how much the financial firms will lose from their lousy investments.
#4: The economy under G. W. Bush was inflated by easy credit. Now that home equity has been wiped out and credit card debt is difficult and expensive the average person has little money to invest. What little they do have sure isn't going to go into a falling stock market.
#5: The investor class has taken a huge hit from the Bush recession (depression?). They have also been taking hits from fraudulent investments like the Maddof fund or Stanford's fund. They are justifiably leery of investing at this time.
It is really quite simple. This is George W. Bush's bear market, just as it is his recession. The market won't reverse course until the economic factors that are driving its downward trend start to reverse. The change to a new bull market won't be driven by any policies or announcements by Barack Obama. The market wouldn't reverse tomorrow even if Obama announced a 100% reduction in corporate taxes. The fundamentals just aren't there. [...]
Don't let the Right own this argument. Push back every chance you get.
By GottaLaff
Sen. John McCain "is rewriting the part of presidential loser," the New York Times observes.Camera two: Look at me! Look at me! I'm still alive!
"Unwilling to vanish into retirement like Bob Dole, or retreat into academia like Al Gore, or even quietly convalesce like John Kerry, Mr. McCain has quickly reclaimed a place on center stage in Washington, some days skewering President Obama and the Democratic Party, and on other days standing by their side."
Said McCain: "I'm the, as I said, loyal opposition. And both words, I think, are operative."
By GottaLaff
Roy Blunt promises America a better health care system via Rushpublicans. I'm still trying to figure out why, if they have such a superior plan, they didn't put it into effect when they controlled our government for so many years. He's pushing "real competition", because, you know, that's been working so well so far:
By GottaLaff
America is nothing but a bunch of socialist Commies who hate their own country:
A new Newsweek poll [...] contains the interesting and “somewhat surprising” finding that a majority of the American public supports nationalizing the banks:Think Progress has more.11. Temporary nationalization is another way for the federal government to deal with large banks in danger of failing. This is where the government takes over a failing bank, cleans its balance sheets, and then quickly sells it off. In general, which do YOU think is the better way to deal with failing banks…
29 Government financial aid WITHOUT any government control of the bank, OR
56 Nationalization, where the government takes temporary control?
11 Neither/Other (VOL.)
4 (DO NOT READ) Don’t know[...] But, in addition to the American public, the noteworthy list of those who are advocating nationalization is bipartisan and growing. It includes Paul Krugman, Alan Greenspan, Nouriel Roubini, Lindsey Graham, James Baker, and now Thomas Hoenig. Hoenig is the Kansas City Fed President, and in remarks yesterday, he criticized the Treasury Department for moving forward with nationalization in a “piecemeal” rather than a comprehensive manner.
As Pat Garofalo explains on The Wonk Room, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s “public-private investment” rescue plan appears to be operating on a faulty theory:
He seems to believe that the problem with the assets is not that they are actually relatively worthless, but that they have an “artificially depressed value” that will return as soon as a market for them is created. […]
Geithner has posited that the toxic assets have a “basic inherent economic value” that is absent because of “the absence of financing and credit.” Unfortunately, today’s market valuations may reflect actual prices, which would throw a serious wrench into everything about the administration’s plan.
By GottaLaff
Here's an idea: Cable Tabloid Newsotainment might try setting aside, say, an hour a day of actual news instead of inserting five minutes of hard news into the steady diet of self-serving Al Roker (et al) promos, and Chris-and-Rihanna, Octomom, packaged/replays of prepubescent wannabe-expert panelists that they force-feed us.That was today's Shallow Thought. Thank you for wading in.
Good lord. Via Think Progress.
In February, employers cut 651,000 jobs , and the national unemployment rate soared to 8.1 percent — the worst since December 1983. The Gavel provides a graph comparing recent job losses to the 1990-1991 and 2001 recessions, showing just how dire the economic situation is today:
By comparison, we lost a total of 1.6 million jobs in the 1990-1991 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing; and we lost a total of 2.7 million jobs in the 2001 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing.
You know what's going to happen, right? The same way they bitch because President Obama goes outside the beltway (so they gripe he's not "back at the White House fixing things"), they'll kvetch that he should stay home and do whatever it is that they think needs doing at the time. We need to remind them of the "walk and chew gum" saying...
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) — President Obama plans to visit Turkey in about a month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday.
Clinton was holding talks in Ankara with officials "to emphasize the work the United States and Turkey must do together on behalf of peace, prosperity and progress," she said.
Obama had said he was going to deliver a speech in a Muslim capital within the first hundred days of his presidency. Clinton did not say that Obama would be making such a speech during this visit.
Nothing, and I mean nothing happening out there. I'm actually attempting to make a breakfast casserole, I'll let you know how it goes.
World to face water shortage by 2025
FBI Busts Alleged Anti-Government Group
Generals share their experience with PTSD
NASA planet hunter begins search for other worlds like ours
Oxford University under fire after two female students perform lewd act with a banana
US envoy holds 'constructive' talks with Syrians
This might be getting old.
A Dem operative sends over an advance copy of a new radio ad being launched next week by Obama’s allies on the left that ups the stakes in the Limbaugh wars.
The spot confronts GOP Congressmen with a choice on the coming budget fight: You’re either rooting for Rush to get his way, or you’re rooting for the success of America:
The ad, which is being paid for by the labor-backed Americans United for Change, will air in the districts of five House Republicans next week: Reps. McCotter, Reichert, Dent, Castle, and McCotter (the latter being the target in the above version).
The ad lays the groundwork for the budget battle by saying that opposing Obama’s budget would be tantamount to embracing Rush’s desire for failure.
By GottaLaff
All these court cases are starting to fuse together in my pea brain:
The Supreme Court on Friday erased a lower-court ruling on perhaps the most fundamental national security question of all: Does the president have the power to order the indefinite military detention of legal residents of the United States?
The court’s action, which had been urged by the Obama administration, wiped away one of the Bush administration’s greatest victories in the lower courts, a 2008 ruling that expanded the limits of executive authority to combat terrorism by allowing such detentions.
But the one-paragraph Supreme Court ruling leaves open the question of whether the military detention of legal residents as enemy combatants can ever be constitutional. The ruling came in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was lawfully in the United States as a student when he was arrested in 2001. The court, which had agreed to hear Mr. Marri’s challenge to his detention in December, said it would not hear the case after all in light of his indictment last week on criminal charges in federal court. [...]The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Mr. Marri, had hoped the Supreme Court would consider his case even after his indictment. But Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer for Mr. Marri, expressed satisfaction with the justices’ decision to undo the Fourth Circuit ruling.
“The fact that the government did not defend its previously claimed detention power and that the Supreme Court wiped out the legally bankrupt lower-court ruling,” Mr. Hafetz said, “should make clear that in the United States no president can imprison legal residents or American citizens without charges or trial by calling them ‘enemy combatants.’ ”
While the government did not defend its power to detain Mr. Marri at present, it left open the possibility that he or others might be subject to military detention as enemy combatants in the future. “Any future detention — were that hypothetical possibility ever to occur — would require new consideration under then-existing circumstances and procedure,” the Justice Department told the court in a brief filed Wednesday.
The government did take pains to deny that it was manipulating the legal system, an accusation made against the Bush administration when it moved Jose Padilla from military detention to criminal court in 2007.
By GottaLaff
Yesterday I posted about whether the ObamAdministration would defend Yoo. I got my answer:
The Obama Administration has decided to press on with the Justice Department's defense of a civil lawsuit brought against John Yoo, a former department lawyer attorney whose controversial legal opinions have been roundly criticized by many members of Obama's legal team.
At a court hearing Friday morning in San Francisco, government lawyers said that despite the change in administration, there has been no change in Yoo's government-run legal defense against a suit brought by Jose Padilla, an American citizen who spent more than three years in a Navy brig after being designated as an enemy combatant.
"This administration has made no secret that we disagree with many of the previous administration's legal policies on national security issues," a Justice Department spokesman, Matt Miller, said after the court session. "Nevertheless, we generally defend employees or former employees of the department in litigation filed in connection with their official duties."
As POLITICO first reported, Judge Jeffrey White issued written questions Thursday asking whether the position taken by Yoo's defense had been "fully vetted" by the Obama administration.
A Justice Department official, who asked not to be named, said the judge was advised that Obama appointees signed off on the legal strategy. "The positions taken in the briefs have been fully vetted within the administration," the official said. [...]
Government lawyers, who are representing Yoo, have argued that the case should be thrown out on a variety of grounds. At Friday's hearing, they said the Obama Administration's promise of policy changes and Congress's current debate over setting up a "truth commission" to investigate Bush-era practices both demonstrate that Padilla's case belongs with the political branches of government and not the courts, a courtroom source said.
Padilla's attorneys replied that fixing the problems now would not redress wrongs done to him in the past, the source said.
A government lawyer, Mary Mason, told White that proceeding with the suit would make government employees skittish about doing their jobs. According to a San Francisco legal newspaper, the Recorder, Mason said that an employee might decide that "I'm not designating you an enemy combatant, and I'm not going to interrogate you, because I might get sued."
By GottaLaff
Andrew Perez on The New Argument notes that in the past few days, Steele’s blog has been disabled, and now just redirects to the RNC homepage. Perez writes, “One has to wonder if the RNC has taken the site down in response to the attacks being launched there by the conservative base.”One has to wonder why Michael Steele is still allowed on the Tee Vee Machine.
By GottaLaff
If Rove thinks President Obama's approval numbers are "average", then I'm guessing he'd call Prez O's intelligence sub par? His family unattractive? His personality lackluster?
Karl Rove looks at early presidential approval rates and finds President Obama's rating is "approximately on par with that of several of his predecessors" including George W. Bush. He concludes "one thing is clear: Obama may have won the widest electoral victory since 1988, but six weeks into his presidency, his approval rating is average, rather than extraordinary."Okay, let's humor him. If Bush, at this stage of his presidency, had been faced with the same dire economy and herculean task of cleaning up his predecessor's illegal war, I'd venture to say he wouldn't be up in the 50-60-somethings.
By GottaLaff
A dozen more reasons to prosecute:
Court documents show the CIA destroyed a dozen videotapes of harsh interrogations of terror suspects.The 12 tapes were part of a larger collection of 92 videotapes of terror suspects that the CIA destroyed. [...]
Heavily redacted papers filed in the case indicate a dozen destroyed tapes show so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques."
By GottaLaff
Just confirmed my appearance tonight, talking about cutbacks at newspapers and elsewhere in the media -- and what it means, or doesn't mean, for the traditional watchdog role of the press, and for the growth of journalism on the Web.
Should be a good discussion. As much as we all complain about the mainstream media, we should also recognize the important watchdog role played (particularly) by newspapers.
He's right.
Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher. "Why Obama Won" is his ninth book.
By GottaLaff
So now America’s conservative pundits are very upset that this supposedly homeless man has a telephone, so poverty isn’t actually a problem, and we’re even “blessed” to have such rich homeless people in the United States.As promised, he-e-e-ere's Kathy! (who is also mentioned in this Salon post)
[W]hy is a guy with a cellphone homeless? [...]He spends all his (our) money on cellphones and, most likely, tattoos and drugs and booze and other crap, and has no money left for a home and food. And why should he bother? We pay for his shelter and food anyhow. [...]
What's really funny in that news story by the way is what they're serving at the soup kitchen: risotto with brocolli. Obviously some rich white liberal did the cooking that day, feeling all proud of herself, and what thanks did she get? Some lowclass loser going, "You expect me to eat this weird crap?!"
But oops:
As Salon’s Alex Koppelman notes, the “weird crap” is simply “rice cooked in chicken stock with some vegetables.” Jesus, this Shaidle person is a night terror. WHO IS SHE?
Our new bff, that big-hearted, charitable, humanitarian sack of malignant wordplay, Kindly Kathy:
Aren't the Rushpublics compassionate? Who could resist that kind of charm? Let's file this one under "2010".And Salon's Alex Koppelman is obviously a delusional liberal pantywaist who can't stand to have his romantic notions about "poverty" challenged (by someone who knows what they're talking about firsthand, and is also a better writer than he is.)
I'd rather be right than "nice" and "polite" -- and so would any intelligent adult who values the truth.I'm betting Alex Koppelman is a grown man who still rides a bicycle. By choice. On the sidewalk.
I'm thrilled. That line is going to look SO great on my next book jacket.
Between that and my handgun license coming in the mail this aft, this is turning into my favorite day in a long time!
By GottaLaff
According to Mike Allen, the people around Michael Steele are thinking he should bring on a co-chairman who will focus on organizing, management and fundraising and let Michael stay focused on TV appearances where he's doing such a bang-up job...
By GottaLaff
The discussion started with Michael Steele's latest antics, but then Boss Limbaugh's name came up. My hero, Matt Taibbi, is worth the price of admission:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
By GottaLaff
Interestingly, on an interview with Anderson Cooper, he said money had absolutely nothing to do with it. I heard it with my own little ears.So why did CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta turn down the Surgeon General job? Howard Kurtz and Michael Shear have a diagnosis.
"One source close to him said Gupta was very disheartened by [Tom] Daschle's fate and fearful he was not going to get a prominent role in the health-care reform process... Gupta has built a lucrative media empire that includes appearances on CBS as well as CNN and book deals. Soon after his interest in the job became public, he had expressed concern to friends about the financial impact on his wife and children."
By GottaLaff
With Dr. Sanjay Gupta taking himself out of the mix as President Obama's choice for Surgeon General, CNN has learned that the name of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has now emerged as a possible pick for the high-profile post.Senior Democratic officials say that Dean, a medical doctor and former Vermont governor who championed health reform, has privately made clear that he is interested in the post. Dean had publicly expressed interest in serving as secretary of Health and Human Services but lost out, and many Democrats believe he was blocked because of a feud he had with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel back in the 2006 election cycle.
But two White House officials told CNN that while it's too early to compile an official list of candidates for Surgeon General, they believe that it's possible for Dean to get the job. "I would not dismiss it," one of the White House officials said of the possibility that Dean will be selected.
One Democratic strategist close to Dean made clear the former DNC chair would take the position if it is offered. [...] "It would certainly shut up a lot of Dean supporters."
It wouldn't shut any of us up, but then again, what does?
People close to Dean and Emanuel, however, insist the two men have since patched up their differences and recently had lunch together. Those sources also noted that in recent months Emanuel reached out and offered Dean a lower-level health-related job in the administration that was turned down.
By GottaLaff
Today, President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key State Department posts: Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary for International Organizations; Phil Gordon, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs; and Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. [...]
Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
Melanne Verveer is Co-Founder, Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders - pioneers of economic, political and social progress in their countries. Prior to founding Vital Voices, Verveer served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady in the Clinton Administration and was chief assistant to then First Lady Hillary Clinton in her international activities. Verveer also took the lead in establishing the President's Interagency Council on Women, which serves as a model for governments to address issues of concern to women.
Previously, Verveer served as Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, a civil rights and constitutional liberties organization where she played a key role in the passage of several landmark civil rights bills. She was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference, Field Manager of Common Cause and worked in the U.S. House and Senate as Legislative Director and Special Assistant respectively. Verveer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women's Foreign Policy Group, the Washington Institute on Foreign Affairs and Women In International Security.
The President's decision to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues is unprecedented and reflects the elevated importance of global women's issues to the President and his entire Administration.
They kick, they scream, they hold their breath, and they're still dead wrong. More detail here.
A new Newsweek poll shows President Obama's approval rating at 58% with just 26% disapproving. Although his approval ratings are down from levels seen a few weeks ago, 72% of Americans still say they have a favorable opinion of Obama -- a higher rating than he received in during the presidential campaign.
The latest Research 2000/DailyKos poll shows 69% viewing Obama favorably with just 26% seeing his unfavorably.
Jeebus, this country has a huge capacity for hate. Go read the whole thing, but here's the nut-
In the days leading up to President Obama's inauguration, U.S. law enforcement agencies huddled regularly in an effort to minimize any possible security risk to an event that promised record crowds for the country's first black president. But one agenda item led authorities to a target close to home: the ranks of the U.S. Capitol Police.h/t Greg
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An FBI investigation that included taped surveillance had placed two off-duty veteran Capitol Police officers in the company of individuals whose racial views and capacity for violence were under scrutiny. Although the recorded discussion did not center on Obama, federal law enforcement officials wanted to ensure that the officers were not on duty covering the Capitol, where the president took the oath of office, according to two sources involved in the matter.
Yeah Science!!!
ABC News has learned that on Monday morning President Obama will hold an event at the White House in which he signs an executive order overturning the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
The announcement will be about "restoring scientific integrity to health care policy," an administration official tells ABC News.
In August 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order banning federal funding on embryonic stem cell research except for a few dozen lines that were grandfathered in. The White House at the time estimated scientists would have more than 60 cell lines to use, but ultimately fewer than two dozen lines were usable.
By GottaLaff
Jim Bunning, only fatter:
On his radio show Friday, Rush Limbaugh suggested that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) would be dead by the time health care reform legislation passes. "Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill," the talk show host says.Calling this bad taste doesn't begin to do this justice.
By GottaLaff
Finally. I've been meaning to post this all morning:
The unemployment rate does not reflect people who say they would like to work full-time, but can only find part-time jobs, or who would like to be working but have given up finding employment because of the depressed market. When those categories are added to the number of unemployed -- technically those people who are actively seeking but unable to find jobs -- the government's "labor underutilization" rate measures 14.8 percent, up from 13.9 percent last month and 9.5 percent a year ago.That's called "reality".
By GottaLaff
David Sirota brings us this one:
Follow the link to read the whole thing.As a candidate, Barack Obama said he would oppose the Panama, South Korea and Colombia Free Trade Agreements. You can verify that (among other places) here. Now, Reuters has the report on a declaration from Tim Geithner (not a shock coming from him, a devout Rubinite):
The Obama administration's endorsement of the Panama pact appears to be a straight-up betrayal of the candidate's campaign promise because the administration says it wants to pass the pact "quickly" and without changes. This is particularly bad not just because it violates a campaign promise, but because its well-known problem of legitimizing and legally securing various tax havens has become an even bigger problem in the new era of huge deficits - that is, in the era where we need to be closing tax havens, not protecting them. [...]U.S. President Barack Obama will work with Congress to move forward on long-stalled free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday.
As for the administration's endorsement of the South Korea and Colombia trade agreement, we can't yet call it a betrayal because the White House has left open the possibility of trying to reform those deals before pushing for their passage.
By GottaLaff
Perfect. Via Crooks and Liars:
This is a vid inspired by the very funny : "Leave Britney Alone" video by Chris Crocker. You know the news, so you know Rush is running the GOP....
By GottaLaff
MSNBC just now: Court rejects Al Franken's bid to be seated. That's all I could get for now. Here's CNN's Tweet:
Minnesota high court denies Franken call for election certification.
By GottaLaff
One month after her surgery for pancreatic cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Thursday she expects to be on the Supreme Court for several more years. In an interview with USA Today, "she also vividly recalled why, on her second day back on the bench, she attended President Obama's televised speech to a joint session of Congress."Oh-h-h, suh-nap! "That senator" was everybody's favorite callous twit, Jim Bunning.
Said Ginsburg: "First, I wanted people to see that the Supreme Court isn't all male. I also wanted them to see I was alive and well, contrary to that senator who said I'd be dead within nine months."
By GottaLaff
"I'm going to spend all my political capital in four years."
-- President Obama in a conversation with Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), as reported by CQ Politics.
By GottaLaff
Former House speaker and potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has confessed, telling conservative Christian leader James Dobson that he was cheating on his wife at around the same time the House was impeaching President Bill Clinton over his White House affair with Monica Lewinsky. [...]Oh, I forgot. He asked god for forgiveness. He has been 100% redeemed. Moving on:
Gingrich's first marriage ended after he discussed the details of the divorce with his wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery. He married again in 1981 and was divorced in 2000, when he married the young congressional aide with whom he had the affair.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Newt Gingrich is considering a run for president in 2012.The anticipation is palpable. Everyone is hanging on what you'll do, Newtie, especially your former paramour/third wife Callista. Nobody can save the Rushpublic party the way you can.
Said Gingrich: "Callista and I will look seriously and we'll probably get our family totally engaged, including our two grandchildren, probably in January, 2011, Gingrich told reporters during a sit-down interview before last night's speech.
"We'll look seriously at whether or not we think its necessary to do it. And if we think it's necessary we'll probably do it. And if it isn't necessary we probably won't do it."
By GottaLaff
Vitter Leads Two Challengers
Despite what most considered a career ending scandal, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) leads two possible challengers in his 2010 re-election race, according to a new Research 2000/DailyKos poll.
Vitter leads Charlie Melancon (D), 48% to 41%, and tops Don Cazayoux (D), 48% to 39%.
By GottaLaff
Centrist earthquake in the works?
"The Democratic Leadership Council -- a group of centrists that dominated politics during the Clinton presidency but is laboring to remain relevant in the Obama era -- is on the brink of a major shake-up," Politico reports.Wiki:
"Al From, the DLC's founder and leader since its creation 24 years ago this month, said he plans to step down within the next couple of months, handing the chief executive reins to his longtime protégé, Bruce Reed."
He is credited with coining the welfare reform catchphrase, "end welfare as we know it." [1]
Reed served as chief speechwriter for Tennessee Senator Al Gore from 1985 to 1989. He was founding editor of the DLC magazine, The New Democrat and served as policy director of the DLC from 1990 to 1991 under DLC Chairman and Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton. In 1992, he was deputy campaign manager for policy of the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign. During the Clinton presidency, Reed served as chief domestic policy advisor and director of the Domestic Policy Council, and helped to write the 1996 welfare reform law known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.
Reed is a native of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and the son of Idaho State Senator Mary Lou Reed. He attended Princeton University and earned a master's degree in English Literature from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Reed is the author of the taunt, "change you can Xerox," from the February 21, 2008 presidential primary debate in Austin, Texas. Reed supplied Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton with the phrase to invoke accusations of plagiarism against rival Senator Barack Obama while parodying his campaign slogan: "Change you can believe in."[2]
By GottaLaff
Background in my earlier post here. Moot:
The Supreme Court has decided not to hear the case of Ali al-Marri, the only enemy combatant still held inside the U.S.
Now that the Obama administration has decided to undeclare him an enemy combatant and put him on trial in regular federal court, the Supreme Court has declared the case moot.
Human rights groups pushed this, because they still wanted a ruling on whether a president could ever declare someone in the U.S. an enemy combatant. Legally speaking, Team Obama did well:
It will not be stuck with taking a position on whether a president has that authority.
By GottaLaff
Only The Daily Show can get away with this stuff. Pay special attention to the question asked of Chip Reid, and how he responds. Honestly, do these people even bother to listen? Helen Thomas sure did. Snerk! Enjoy:
By GottaLaff
#8. $380,000 for a recreation and fairground area in Kotzebue, AKThat's what he does. He posts them exactly as you see above. And here is an example of why they irk some people:
A South Carolina newspaper isn’t too happy with what John McCain’s been Twittering.McCain has been using the microblogging site to post a near-daily list of the “10 Porkiest projects” in the omnibus spending bill. On Wednesday, the Arizona senator posted “#6. $950,000 for a Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, SC.”
See what I mean?
The Myrtle Beach Sun News editorialized Friday that McCain is using the site “to make congressional earmarks a political wedge issue for the Republicans” by posting such earmarks without context.
The paper wrote that “readers of McCain's Convention Center tweet are now invited to think — without the inconvenience of critical reflection — that the Myrtle Beach Convention Center project has no value.”
The editorial argued instead that the convention center project has the potential to create long-term wealth and jobs in the coastal resort city.
The paper went on to say how ironic it was that the earmark was put into the bill by none other than Gramm-pa McCain's bff... Lindsey Graham.
Looks like Tweeter McCain laid an egg.
By GottaLaff
Back then, [Upchurch] recalls Michelle exhibited the drive that would take her from a rough Chicago neighbourhood to Harvard University and on to a law career where she would later meet her husband, Barack Obama.
David said: 'I grew up with Michelle and her brother Craig. We were neighbours, and our families were close.
'When Michelle was in the middle of her junior year, we began dating and continued to date for a year-and-a-half.
'Michelle knew what she wanted and after graduation she was off to Princeton University. I couldn't stand in her way.'
Perhaps mindful that her husband is the President, David refuses to 'kiss and tell' about their time together.
He says he can't even remember if he received a goodnight kiss after the prom.
The romance ended when Michelle went off to Princeton to study sociology. [...]'I wished the best for Michelle because she has always been a wonderful person,' he said.
'I always knew Michelle was special and would make a difference in the world.' [...]
David, a divorced father-of-three from Colorado Springs, Colorado, says he finds it hard to believe his prom date ended up in the White House.
'I cannot tell you how proud I am of her and her husband. I have never met Barack, but I have to say, he is a very lucky man,' he said.
David Upchurch: The Pete Best of dating.
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