Socialism we can use

post from Jesus' General on 22 November 2008 02:52:00 PM. © Jesus' General

Obama announces public works initiative.

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2008/11/socialism-we-can-use.html

Digg this

I'll never forget

post from Everyday Citizen on 22 November 2008 02:50:49 PM. © Everyday Citizen

Sadly, it was one of those "I'll never forget where I was when I heard" moments.Eighth grade[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/11/ill_never_forget.html

Digg this

NY Daily News' Goodwin falsely suggested
Bill Clinton has not disclosed his speaking fees

post from Media Matters for America on 22 November 2008 02:46:39 PM. © Media Matters for America

On theNovember 21 edition of CNN's Lou DobbsTonight, discussing reports that President-elect Barack Obama willname Sen. Hillary Clinton secretary of state, NewYork Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin falsely suggested thatformer President Bill Clinton has not disclosed "the paidspeeches that he gives around the world." In fact, the sources andamounts of Bill Clinton's speaking fees are disclosed annually in Hillary Clinton'sSenate disclosure forms. Goodwinasserted:GOODWIN: I think theissue of[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200811220003

Digg this

Politico/USC Post-Election Conference: Technology
In Politics

post from MyDD on 22 November 2008 02:43:51 PM. © MyDD

Kurt Weinsheimer of Spot Runner, Becki Donatelli and Rob Kubasko from the McCain campaign and Sam Graham-Felsen and Joe Rospars of the Obama campaign are speaking about the web and politics with Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin. You should be able to[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/5-0W9AnSA5k/03

Digg this

Midday Open Thread

post from Daily Kos on 22 November 2008 02:33:39 PM. © Daily Kos

The recount continues in the Minnesota senate race:

Fifty-three counties have reported complete results to the secretary of state, meaning fewer than three dozen remain. As of Friday night, at least 60 percent of the estimated 2.9 million ballots had gotten a second look.

Coleman entered the recount with a 215-vote edge over Franken. That lead has dropped to 115 votes when comparing totals in precincts where the new count is complete. But the figure doesn't include ballot challenges, which have caused vote tallies for both men to drop.

Stay tuned.

Who will George Bush pardon before riding off into the sunset? Dafna Lizner from ProPublica rates the chances of some high profile possibilities. Scooter Libby gets a "You betcha!"

Barbara Lee has been named chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus:

... giving the Oakland Democrat a high-profile platform to push her priorities, from increasing funding for HIV/AIDS to pushing for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Jameson Foser at Media Matters wonders when experience became a flaw.

Winning the presidency is good for book sales. The Audacity Of Hope and Dreams From My Father have the top two spots on the Poli-Book best seller list.

Jimmy Carter was refused entry into Zimbabwe for a humanitarian mission.

Apparently piracy pays:

Somali pirates have released a hijacked Greek-owned tanker with all 19 crew safe and the oil cargo intact, Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry said Saturday. The ship's management company said a ransom was paid but did not say how much.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre will tell all about her time with Client No. 9...or at least how "connected" she felt to his wife.

More speculation on the soon-to-be Obama administration:

Three women who held senior state environmental posts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California are candidates for administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to Democrats who say they have been briefed on the Obama transition.

For those interested in the institutional responses to the Baucus health reform initiative, National Journal rounds up some of the players for comment. - DemFromCT

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/uwtP0eby3Mk/665105

Digg this

Obama names Gibbs as press secretary

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 22 November 2008 02:15:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Folks were talking about Gibbs possibly getting this job. He's got the personality for it, the press likes him - good fit.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama announced on Saturday that close aide Robert Gibbs would be White House press secretary and Ellen Moran of women's organization Emily's List would be director of communications.

Obama said Dan Pfeiffer, who heads the Obama transition team's communications office, would serve at the White House as deputy director of communications.

"These individuals will fill essential roles, and bring a breadth and depth of experience that can help our administration advance prosperity and security for the American people," Obama said in a statement.

Gibbs, an Obama adviser since 2004, served as communications director to Obama when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/8jVMow6U8N4/obama-names-gibbs-as-pr
ess-secretary.html

Digg this

"Back To The Future".

post from field negro on 22 November 2008 02:13:00 PM. © field negro

I know it's early--- hell the poor guy hasn't even been sworn in yet--but it sure looks like the O man is thinking like a certain Bubba from "Pig Suey" country.

Rham Emanuel, Daniel Tarullo,Jack Lew,Lawrence Summers,Peter Orszag....you get the picture.
And before you Obamaholics get yourselves into a tizzy, relax, this is not a bash O man post. I am just hoping that there will be some "change that we can believe in" coming really soon. Oh, and I didn't mention the biggest connection to Bubba of all; his lovely wife. Yes, if you believe Andrea Mitchell, who broke the story ("Broke" the story, that's a joke. Like she doesn't have a direct line to Hillary's people. They leaked that story to her plain and simple so that his O ness would have no choice but to give Hillary Condi's old job) Hillary will be our new Secretary of State. It is a shrewed pick on Obama's part (what better way to keep an eye on your most powerful opponent than to put her in your cabinet?), but it has its dangers as well. The State Department is not like any of the other departments under the President's control. The folks that run that bad boy can actually build a real power base of their own. Still, he could have done a lot worse than Hillary. She is smart and competent and she should be just fine representing Omerica to the rest of the world. Just watch for those snipers in Bosnia Hillary. (Field you just couldn't resist could you?)

His O ness sure seems to be going with this experience thing and with folks who know Washington. If all the leaks coming out are to be believed; we will have Tom Daschle, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Janet Napolitano all going to Washington with his O ness. Daschle has been in Washington since all those cherry blossom trees were just seeds, and his wife is a big time lobbyist. But I am letting that slide too because I actually like the guy, and like Hillary, I think he will do a fine job.
Hey, if everyone his O ness picks does a good job we all win. But if not, you will have folks like moi screaming that it didn't work because he didn't follow his change mantra, and put new fresh faces in Washington like he promised. I swear I studied at the feet of Antisthenes.
As far as the color and gender meter goes... well, so far the frat boy was better. So far. (Obama, I take it, is just getting started) The frat boy gave us Jackson, Powell, Gutierrez, and Rice to satisfy the color code. And he gave us folks like Mary Peters, Elaine Cho, and Dana Perino to satisfy the gender police. (Hell he gave us a two-fer with Condi) Problem with the frat boy's team is that they were loyal to him, and they seemed afraid to question his out of control neocon policies. As a result, he made inclusiveness seem like a bad thing. They were just window dressing to try and help cover up what was a fucked up administration. The good thing is, he made A-merry-ca realize that picking the good old boyz just because you were comfortable with them was wrong too, and could have some seriously fucked up consequences. ("Brownie you're doing one heck of a job")

His O ness wants experience, and if you hear his people tell it, they want the best and the brightest. And if the best and the brightest satisfy the race and the color police, so be it. If not, hey, at least the trains will run on time. Now that's all good. But what if they don't satisfy the race and gender police and the trains don't run on time? What then?
So far his O ness seems like he is off to a good start. Word is that he will be be picking Timothy Geithner to run Treasury; and when news of the pick leaked out, the Dow shot up over 500 points by the close of trading on Friday. That's all good and well, but isn't picking Geithner, a Wall Street insider, kind of like picking a fox to watch the hen house? That's not change is it O man? I am just saying.
Anyway, I am going to leave his O ness for now and let him make the rest of his picks. This is just field being field. Me opening up my big mouth before this cabinet even fully takes shape.But just remember O man, the race and gender police will be watching. Eric Holder, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, and......

Oh, before I forget: O man please consider Lisa Jackson for the EPA head. I know she is on your transition team, but she wants more. She is a chemical engineer, and she has a Master's Degree from Princeton. (In the spirit of true disclosure Mrs. Field has a rooting interest in that pick.) She is already the Environmental Protection Commissioner over in New Jersey, and it doesn't get anymore challenging than trying to clean up the environment over there. She would be an example of some change that we could believe in. Besides, you would get a twofer like the frat boy did with Condi. And I honestly think that she would do a better job.
So good luck with the rest of the team O man. I hope you pick the best people for the job. And I hope that all of those people look like the rest of Omerica.

Read The Full Article:
http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2008/11/back-to-future.html

Digg this

Saturday Early PM Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 22 November 2008 02:07:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

In response to a question about his role in the Imperial Sugar case, Georgia Repug Senator Saxby Chambliss decides to shove his hand into a camera lens - nice freaking guy (h/t annrose at The Daily Kos)...

video details and more

...probably because he doesn't want to talk about what is discussed in this video.

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2008/11/saturday-early-pm-stuff.html

Digg this

Forty Five Years

Where were you forty five years ago today? If you were old enough to remember at all, then you undoubtedly remember where you were on Friday November 22, 1963 at 12:30 pm central standard time.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/22/forty-five-years/

Digg this

Hate crimes and illegal immigration: O'Reilly
reverses the reality

O'Reilly-Hate Crimes
icon Download | Play icon Download | Play

Earlier this week on The O'Reilly Factor, the Papa Bear did what right-wingers constantly do when discussing hate crimes: he conflated them with ordinary crimes in a way that deliberately confuses the public regarding the nature of these crimes.

As you can see in this clip (or from the transcript), O'Reilly starts out by discussing the horrendous hate crime on Long Island wherein a group of six young white thugs went out looking for Latinos to harm for "sport", and they wound up killing an Ecuadoran immigrant named Marcelo Lucero.

But then he seems to connect this crime to a completely unrelated tragedy involving the deaths of two women at the hands of a drunken driver who happened to be an illegal immigrant.

How are they connected? O'Reilly explains:

So, three human beings are dead because of irresponsible conduct and failed government.
The New York Times and Newsday have covered the Lucero murder extensively, as they should. It is a horrible crime, and seven young men may pay a steep price for being violently stupid.
But the Times and Newsday have pretty much ignored the deaths of the two women. This is a pattern in America.
People killed by illegal aliens can expect little coverage from a media that wants amnesty for foreign nationals here illegally.
But in the end, it is the federal government that is truly responsible for the deaths, and for the entire illegal alien problem. ...

It would be nice to think that O'Reilly simply doesn't comprehend the difference between a hate crime and an ordinary crime. I've explained this many times:

Hate crimes are message crimes: They are intended to harm not just the immediate victim, but all people of that same class within the community. Their message is also irrevocable: they are "get out of town, nigger/Jew/queer" crimes.
That's why bias-crime laws are about imposing stiffer sentences on their perpetrators: they cause more real harm to the community. This principle -- greater harm brings stiffer punishment -- is a basic element of criminal law.

Think, if you will, about the different effects of these two tragedies. In the Lucero case, the fully intended terroristic effects are clear: the Latino community on Long Island naturally feels vulnerable and fearful, and relations with the white community have been permanently stained. In the case of the drunken driver, the community is bound to feel somewhat more vulnerable to the effects of drunken drivers, but it doesn't require one to be an illegal immigrant to be one of those.

Indeed, as with most crimes, the rate for such crimes is actually lower within the immigrant community than with the public at large. There is in fact no correlation at all between immigration and crime.

Which is why when people like Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs constantly harangue their audiences with morbid tales of incidents involving Latinos who commit crimes or are responsible for tragedies, it not only distorts the reality regarding immigrants and crime, but it profoundly demonizes immigrants by linking them with criminality.

In turn, it is this very demonization, particularly in the mainstream media, that actually leads to more hate crimes.

So in effect what O'Reilly is doing is encouraging more hate crimes by suggesting that illegal immigration was the cause of those two women's deaths.

And at the same time, in a twist of logic one can only call bizarre, O'Reilly's inherent thesis is that somehow the federal government's failures on illegal immigration are responsible somehow for the death of Marcelo Lucero as well.

How so? Did that pack of white thugs go out looking for Latinos to beat up because of the failures of the federal government? That seems to be O'Reilly's logic here. Isn't that blaming the victims? And doesn't O'Reilly preach "individual responsibility" for minorities who commit crimes?

O'Reilly finishes up his tirade by demanding that Barack Obama adopt a "zero tolerance policy" towards illegal immigrants.

Better the rest of us develop a "zero tolerance policy" for Bill O'Reilly's hatemongering.