Religious right: Obama "professes" to follow
Christ

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 21 January 2009 05:01:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

The clear implication is that Obama may only be claiming to be a Christian.

They really are quite small, bitter people, these evangelical Republicans. On the day of Obama's inauguration, they just had to get one more jab in about the Muslim thing - or was it, more generally, the evangelicals' quaint little belief that all other Christians aren't "real" Christians? Either way, it's just another reminder of why we should all thank God that President McCain, Vice President Palin, and the neanderthal wing of the Republican party won't be inhabiting the White House any time soon.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/p_sy7n-oHu4/religious-right-obama-p
rofesses-to.html

Digg this

Republican Obstructionism On Display Over
President Obama's Nominees

post from DownWithTyranny! on 21 January 2009 05:00:00 AM. © DownWithTyranny!

Crackpot misogynist Jim Inhofe places 2 secret holds on Obama nominees
Yesterday the Senate confirmed-- by acclaimation-- the first seven Obama nominees they had been considering-- Janet Napolitano, of Arizona, to be Secretary of Homeland Security; Ken Salazar, of Colorado, to be Secretary of the Interior; Eric Shinseki, of Hawaii, to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Tom Vilsack, of Iowa, to be Secretary of Agriculture; Steven Chu, of California, to be Secretary of Energy; Arne Duncan, of Illinois, to be Secretary of Education; and Peter Orszag, of Massachusetts, to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Today they'll get to work on some of the more contentious nominations-- the ones the GOP has decided to make contentious-- starting with Hillary Clinton.

The Republicans can't stop the confirmations but their obstructionist wing, led by Jim DeMint (R-SC), David Diapers Vitter (R-LA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) from inside the Senate and by Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist from the peanut gallery, are demanding at least a good show. Today there will be a three hour "debate" in which Cornyn and Diapers can attack Bill Clinton and then a roll call in which Mrs. Clinton is expected to be confirmed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin. Cornyn is threatening to fillibuster, which the Democrats should certainly allow him to do and make sure is on television. It would be especially interesting to see if two cowardly obstructionist Clinton-haters up for re-election in 2004, Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Diapers of Louisiana, already severely damaged by the revelations that he's spent more time in whore houses than on the Senate floor, have the guts to take part in Cornyn's fillibuster.

Other Obama nominees facing onstructionism are Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary (Gingrich's special target), Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Eric Holder as Attorney General, and Hilda Solis, who Republicans hate because she strongly backs the Employee Free Choice Act, as labor Secretary. The confirmation of Obama?s choices for EPA administrator, former New Jersey environmental chief Lisa Jackson, and White House Council on Environmental Quality chairwoman, Nancy Sutley, are being held up because a mystery senator has put a hold on their nominations. It is widely believed that the hold was placed by Global Warming denier and hysterical homophobe Jim Inhofe (R-OK) but Inhofe refuses to confirm or deny he's the hold placer, although sources close to the Oklahoma reactionary claim he loathes the idea of confirming a lesbian (Ms Sutley) in any government jobs. Later today, we'll post the results of the confirmation roll calls as updates here.

As Thomas Frank reminds us in his newest book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, a basic tenet of Republican rule is that Personnel is Policy and they consistently seek to undermine good government by placing incompetent hacks in important jobs and preventing first rate people from getting into those jobs.

[O]ne of the consequences of this idea, "personnel is policy," is this war that they've been waging ever since Reagan got in, this war with what they call the "permanent government," the bureaucracy. The final consequence of all that is: Outsource the work. Send it out so the bureaucrats don't have any control over it anymore, and it's all in the hands of private contractors, who then, of course, tithe back to the movement and hire the right lobbyists, and all that sort of thing. And then, of course, when your work is done as a congressman or the chieftain at the Department of Homeland Security or whatever, then you go off and take a job with that lobbying firm. Reap your rich reward.

And that is change we really need if this country is going to move forward.

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/01/republican-obstructionism-on-display.
html

Digg this

Turning the page on Print Ads (Spencer
Spinnell/Traditional Media)

post from memeorandum on 21 January 2009 04:45:00 AM. © memeorandum

Spencer Spinnell / Traditional Media:
Turning the page on Print Ads — Labels: Announcements, Google Print Ads — In the last few months, we've been taking a long, hard look at all the things we are doing to ensure we are investing our resources in the projects that will have the biggest impact for our users and partners.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.memeorandum.com/090121/p12#a090121p12

Digg this

KS-Leg: Sens. Laura Kelly, Janis Lee and Kelly
Kultala Kick Sen. VP John Vratil's Ass

post from Kansas Jackass on 21 January 2009 04:30:00 AM. © Kansas Jackass

There aren't a lot of them, but the Democrats in the Kansas Senate are a scrappy bunch.We're back[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com/2009/01/ks-leg-sens-laura-kelly-janis-lee-and.h
tml

Digg this

KS-Leg: Sens. Laura Kelly, Janis Lee and Kelly
Kultala Kick Sen. Pres. John Vratil's Ass

post from Kansas Jackass on 21 January 2009 04:30:00 AM. © Kansas Jackass

Digg this

Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy!

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 21 January 2009 04:22:34 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

When last we chatted.Slay bells ring, are you listenin'In the air, snow is glistenin'A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight,Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland.Santa Claus Rally. Or maybe not so[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/518658272/showDiary.do

Digg this

Kansans React to History in the Making

post from Kansas Jackass on 21 January 2009 04:04:00 AM. © Kansas Jackass

Just one last post, folks about yesterday's momentous events- then I promise I'll be back on the[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com/2009/01/kansans-react-to-history-in-making.html

Digg this

LTE: Jenkins a Victim

post from Kansas Jackass on 21 January 2009 03:55:00 AM. © Kansas Jackass

I didn't write it, I'm just reprinting it:Letter: Jenkins no victimThe Capital-Journal Published[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com/2009/01/lte-jenkins-victim.html

Digg this

China censors Obama's inauguration speech

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 21 January 2009 03:38:00 AM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

The Beijing government really is pathetic. From the AP:

The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech omitted his references to communism and dissent, and a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when sensitive topics were mentioned.

The comments by the newly installed U.S. president veered into politically sensitive territory for China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains a tight grip over the Internet and the entirely state-run media. Beijing tolerates little dissent and frequently decries foreign interference in its internal affairs.

At one point, Obama said earlier generations "faced down communism and fascism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions." He later addressed "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent ? know that you are on the wrong side of history."

The Chinese translation of the speech, credited to the Web site of the official China Daily newspaper, was missing the word "communism" in the first sentence. The paragraph with the sentence on dissent had been removed entirely.

The censored version was carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency and posted on popular online portals Sina and Sohu. Another portal, Netease, used a version without the paragraph mentioning communism, but retaining the part about dissent.

The news channel of state broadcaster China Central Television broadcast the speech live early Wednesday local time, but appeared caught off-guard by the statement about facing down communism.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/y8Dyk8H-bMA/china-censors-obamas-in
auguration.html

Digg this

Obama acts on Guantanamo trials.

Barack Obama has made his first move since becoming president and has requested the suspension of all military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.

The request would halt proceedings in 21 pending cases, including one against five men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks.

Barack Obama has repeatedly promised to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where some 250 inmates accused of links to terrorism remain.

Just hours after taking the oath of office on the steps of the US Capitol, he moved to halt the controversial process of military tribunals.

The two-page document, ordered jointly by Mr Obama and the US Department of Defense, seeks a 120-day suspension of trials and will be heard by two tribunal judges on Wednesday. The delay would "permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration time to review the military commission process", the document said.

The legal process has been widely criticised because the US military acts as jailer, judge and jury, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington.

In his inaugural address Obama attacked the false choice "between our safety and our ideals" and, with this first decision, he seems determined to live up to that promise.

The days of the Bush administration, where the president claimed the power to remove a persons liberty, outwith the reach of any court, appears to be at an end.

Of course, we have still to discover what Obama intends to do with these people, but stopping the ridiculous aberration of justice which these military tribunals represented is a very good first step.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Obama, Guantanamo Bay

Read The Full Article:
http://the-osterley-times.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama-acts-on-guantanamo-trials.ht
ml

Digg this