Election Race Diary Roundup (9/16 - SEVEN WEEKS
TO GO!)

post from Daily Kos on 16 September 2008 11:45:02 PM. © Daily Kos

PLEASE NOTE - This is not an open thread and is intended for diaries and discussion of downticket races.

For all the introductory stuff and links to previous diaries in the series, please look below the fold...

This Rescue Diary covers the period from 12:00 Noon, Monday, 9/15 to 12:00 Noon EDT, Tuesday, 9/16

Today's Menu Includes:
36 Diaries Overall

- 12 On House races

- With 12 covering individual Districts in 10 states

- 6 On Senate races

- Representing 5 different states

- 4 On Various election races

- Encompassing Governor, Secretary of State, Local, and more

- 14 General election-related diaries

Follow us for more, come on in............

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/alnZybc6gvk/601021

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Open Thread and Diary Rescue

post from Daily Kos on 16 September 2008 11:35:03 PM. © Daily Kos

This evening's Rescue Rangers are yashua, shayera, srkp23, dopper0189, ItsJessMe, Elise, and taylormattd as editor.

Please enjoy reading these outstanding, ranger-selected diaries:

occams hatchet tells the sordid tale of Lehman Brothers: sleeping in the bed you made - now with Jeb Bush bonus! (srkp23)

mrmyster outlines some parallels between Truman's campaign and Obama's campaign in Brokaw on Truman '48. (ItsJessMe)

cynndara relates her personal story of the effects of Hurricane Ike in Southern Ohio in And so it begins ... (shayera)

jimstaro provides another example of Bush administration's shocking incompetence in "Another Walter Reed-Type Scandal." (dopper0189)

Harry DMI brings us Mayor Nutter's views on the myth of small town America in McCain, Nutter, and Leadership. (Elise)

afr114 shares a wonderful resource from the Museum of the Moving Image in UPDATE: Political Advertisement since 1952. (srkp23)

In a link-rich diary, Avenging Angel provides compelling evidence showing The Record: Wall Street, Economy Do Better Under Democrats. (ItsJessMe)

ilona highlights a truly horrible statistic in OEF/OIF Veteran Suicides Nearly 15% of Overall U.S. Military Casualties. (shayera)

k4pacific brings us Snark: An Interview with Lehman Bros. (Elise)

hairylarry gathers us around to celebrate and share anti-war music in Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier. (srkp23)

Mama Bartholomew shares an article she first wrote for small weekly newspaper in a very conservative corner of her state: My Love Affair with Barack Obama. (ItsJessMe)

Magnifico discusses poor media coverage and short American attention spans in Americans got bored or why the "surge" in Iraq worked. (shayera)

Naomi Wolf introduces us to a new campaign that will urge the candidates to address constitutional issues in Hey, Senator Obama: Tomorrow is Constitution Day. (Elise)

Attorney at Arms details a brief economic history demonstrating that there is no such thing as the free market, in Laissez-faire: rinse (us), repeat. (ItsJessMe)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: September 15, 2008.

brillig has Top Comments 09/16/08 I Haz A Visitor Edition.

Please feel free to promote your favorite diaries in this open thread.

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Think The GOP Will Use This

post from TalkLeft on 16 September 2008 11:33:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Link. I imagine they might. Here's my question - how is it funny? Maybe my stupidity is blocking my sense of humor here, but I do not get the funny.

This is an Open Thread. And I speak for me only. Maybe J or Chris think it is funny.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/394780184/768

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Cinematic Nightmares

post from Firedoglake on 16 September 2008 11:30:11 PM. © Firedoglake

Matt Damon's comment that Sarah Palin as the Republican nominee for vice president could end up "like a really bad Disney movie,? inspired the very witty Walt Disney Presents: The Sarah Palin Story from the clever minxes at Jezebel.com Commenting on[...]

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http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/09/16/cinematic-nightmares/

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Can We Nationalize Exxon And Health Care Too

post from American Street on 16 September 2008 11:18:00 PM. © American Street

AIG, American International Group, a DOW component I’d never heard of until it’s former CEO, Bush Pioneer Maurice R Greenberg made headlines in 2005 when the company was caught in some Enron-like accounting schenanigans to the tune of $1.7 Billion — which also implicated Warren Buffet. The scandal was quietly ignored by the SEC and [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/09/16/can-we-nationalize-exxon-and-h
ealth-care-too/

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Late Night Music Club with Pink Floyd, RIP
Richard Wright

post from Crooks and Liars on 16 September 2008 11:00:25 PM. © Crooks and Liars

If you Google the lyrics for “One of These Days” the internet will laugh at you. Because “One of These Days” has exactly one lyric: “One of these days I’m going to cut you into little pieces.” The rest of the song is built like an A-frame around it: everything before rises out of an [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/16/late-night-music-club-with-pink-floyd-ri
p-richard-wright/

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Timing Is Everything

post from TalkLeft on 16 September 2008 10:58:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Jonah Goldberg learns. From his column today:

Now, facing John McCain's blistering ads, Obama seems unable to fight fire with fire. . . . Nonetheless, the Obama campaign has vowed, once again, to take the gloves off and go after McCain hard, linking him to President Bush and highlighting the fact that the Arizona senator is out of touch.

One flaw with this supposed course correction is that it isn't one. McCain-Bush-Economy has been Obama's message for months now. Indeed, ABC News' Jake Tapper wrote on his blog that this is actually the fourth time Team Obama has pledged to engage in a bracing round of fisticuffs.

Time to revise and extend those remarks Jonah. Of course, "the economy is fundamentally sound" may be a winning soundbite. But I doubt it. It did not work for Hoover.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/394761675/8408

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Myanmar Redux - in the USA

post from All Spin Zone on 16 September 2008 10:52:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

Earlier this year, a cyclone ripped through the Indian Ocean country of Myanmar (formerly Burma). The complete casualty figure will never be known, but hundreds of thousands died from the storm, flooding, and lack of basic services following the disaster.

The government regime in Myanmar was strongly criticized for many things in the aftermath. NGOs were not allowed into the affected area for weeks to provide relief assistance. Offers of help from foreign countries such as the U.S. were slow-tracked by the junta. Journalists were not allowed into the affected area to document the devastation. The government of Myanmar said it could handle the situation by itself, and didn’t want interference from outsiders (although it was plainly clear that this wasn’t the case). In a press conference at the White House on 5/5/08, two days after the disaster unfolded, First Lady Laura Bush was among the most critical of the Myanmar junta’s response:

The response to the cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta’s failure to meet its people’s basic needs.

I wonder if she would say that about the regime of her own husband, who visited the disaster area today, but left without making a statement of any sort.

It’s been almost five days since Hurricane Ike ripped through southern Texas. This past Saturday, the media was wall-to-wall Ike, as the huge storm came ashore in Galveston, and tore a path well inland through Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. The following day, when media reports started flowing in about blown out skyscraper windows, and power and basic services being knocked out, I had a gut feeling that things were pretty bad. Incidental reports that I was receiving through my own back channels only verified the extent of the damage in Houston.

But precious little information has been coming in regarding the situation south of Houston.

A no-fly zone had been established over the most devastated areas of the barrier islands on the Texas gulf coast, including Galveston, ostensibly “to provide a safe environment for disaster response and relief operations”. The thing is, no one has been able to determine who issued the no-fly order. News organization helicopters and others have not been allowed into the areas, and no media has been allowed in on the ground on the Bolivar Peninsula. Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas has clamped a lid on any city officials (other than her and the city manager) speaking to the press. There is even an unconfirmed report that FEMA has restricted all cell phone communications on Bolivar Peninsula.

There’s no indication as to why this media blackout is taking place - but it’s pretty clear - DHS, FEMA and the Bush administration are trying to manage the story. They don’t want another Katrina-style PR disaster on their hands, particularly in an election year. Take a look at this Coast Guard video from before the hurricane came ashore, and you might understand why.

It’s unclear how many people are still without power in southern Texas, but the number is in the millions, as of this evening. No lights, no air conditioning, no refrigeration for food. Gasoline (where available) is being restricted to 5 gallon purchases, at inflated prices. Businesses are closed. Schools might not reopen for weeks (or longer, in the most affected areas).

And the finger pointing has already started. FEMA apparently belatedly showed up with manpower, but no relief supplies, and no distribution plan. They blamed the State of Texas. The State of Texas blamed local authorities.

In the aftermath of Ike, federal and Texas officials blamed each other over delays in getting provisions, water and ice from staging areas in San Antonio and Fort Worth to relief workers and public distribution centers in the storm zone.
After taking criticism from U.S. Reps. John Culberson, R-Katy, and Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff claimed the state had failed to provide promised workers to run distribution centers. The supplies eventually arrived, and Houston Mayor Bill White downplayed the dispute as “a little drama.”

And according to today’s Houston Chronicle, FEMA is still “days away” from establishing a “mega relief center”.

It’s apparent that the only thing the Bush administration and DHS and FEMA have learned from the Katrina disaster of 2005 is message control. Maybe they asked for some pointers from the Myanmar junta.

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/09/16/myanmar-redux-in-the-usa/

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Hurricane Ike: Myanmar Redux in the USA

Earlier this year, a cyclone ripped through the Indian Ocean country of Myanmar (formerly Burma). The complete casualty figure will never be known, but hundreds of thousands died from the storm, flooding, and lack of basic services following the disaster.

The government regime in Myanmar was strongly criticized for many things in the aftermath. NGOs were not allowed into the affected area for weeks to provide relief assistance. Offers of help from foreign countries such as the U.S. were slow-tracked by the junta. Journalists were not allowed into the affected area to document the devastation. The government of Myanmar said it could handle the situation by itself, and didn’t want interference from outsiders (although it was plainly clear that this wasn’t the case). In a press conference at the White House on 5/5/08, two days after the disaster unfolded, First Lady Laura Bush was among the most critical of the Myanmar junta’s response:

The response to the cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta’s failure to meet its people’s basic needs.

I wonder if she would say that about the regime of her own husband, who visited the Hurricane Ike disaster area today, but left without making a statement of any sort.

It’s been almost five days since Ike ripped through southern Texas. This past Saturday, the media was wall-to-wall Ike, as the huge storm came ashore in Galveston, and tore a path well inland through Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. The following day, when media reports started flowing in about blown out skyscraper windows, and power and basic services being knocked out, I had a gut feeling that things were pretty bad. Incidental reports that I was receiving through my own back channels only verified the extent of the damage in Houston.

But precious little information has been coming in regarding the situation south of Houston.

A no-fly zone has been established over the most devastated areas of the barrier islands on the Texas gulf coast, including Galveston, ostensibly “to provide a safe environment for disaster response and relief operations”. The thing is, no one has been able to determine who issued the no-fly order. News organization helicopters and others have not been allowed into the areas, and no media has been allowed in on the ground on the Bolivar Peninsula. Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas has clamped a lid on any city officials (other than her and the city manager) speaking to the press. There is even an unconfirmed report that FEMA has restricted all cell phone communications on Bolivar Peninsula.

There’s no indication as to why this media blackout is taking place - but it’s pretty clear - DHS, FEMA and the Bush administration are trying to manage the story. They don’t want another Katrina-style PR disaster on their hands, particularly in an election year. Take a look at this Coast Guard video from before the hurricane came ashore, and you might understand why.

It’s unclear how many people are still without power in southern Texas, but the number is in the millions, as of this evening. No lights, no air conditioning, no refrigeration for food. Gasoline (where available) is being restricted to 5 gallon purchases, at inflated prices. Businesses are closed. Schools might not reopen for weeks (or longer, in the most affected areas).

And the finger pointing has already started. FEMA apparently belatedly showed up with manpower, but no relief supplies, and no distribution plan. They blamed the State of Texas. The State of Texas blamed local authorities.

In the aftermath of Ike, federal and Texas officials blamed each other over delays in getting provisions, water and ice from staging areas in San Antonio and Fort Worth to relief workers and public distribution centers in the storm zone.
After taking criticism from U.S. Reps. John Culberson, R-Katy, and Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff claimed the state had failed to provide promised workers to run distribution centers. The supplies eventually arrived, and Houston Mayor Bill White downplayed the dispute as “a little drama.”

And according to today’s Houston Chronicle, FEMA is still “days away” from establishing a “mega relief center”.

It’s apparent that the only thing the Bush administration and DHS and FEMA have learned from the Katrina disaster of 2005 is message control. Maybe they asked for some pointers from the Myanmar junta that they so strongly criticized.

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/09/16/myanmar-redux-in-the-usa/

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Alaska environmentalist on Palin record: It's
not pretty

What's Sarah Palin's environmental record as governor of Alaska?I asked an old friend, a college classmate of my wife, who's been an environmentalist working in Alaska for three decades, most of her post-college life. In a nutshell: Her record is[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/395304192/showDiary.do

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