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Buzz, perspectives, insight and news from AlterNet

White House Releases Turkey Pardon Spoof Then Does The Real Thing
Posted by Daniel Kessler, TreeHugger on November 25, 2009 at 6:33 PM.

You've got to wonder if this is what we want our tax dollars going to? Anyway, the White House put out a spoof yesterday morning of the traditional presidential pardon of a turkey for Thanksgiving. The video follows a path through the White House, right into the Oval Office.

New Info Shows the Stimulus Is Working, Time for Conservatives to Thank Obama
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 25, 2009 at 3:58 PM.

The New York Times had a terrific report the other day, explaining that the stimulus package is "working," polls and Republican talking points notwithstanding.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com and an occasional adviser to lawmakers from both parties, said, "[T]he stimulus is doing what it was supposed to do -- it is contributing to ending the recession." Zandi added that without the recovery bill, the "G.D.P. would still be negative and unemployment would be firmly over 11 percent. And there are a little over 1.1 million more jobs out there as of October than would have been out there without the stimulus."

What I didn't realize is that the piece included some very helpful charts, featuring projections of key economic indicators from three companies that specialize in macroeconomic forecasting. (via Matt Yglesias). You'll notice, of course, the black line and the gray line -- the black representing progress with the recovery plan, the gray representing what would have happened without it.

There are several angles to keep in mind here. First, opponents of the stimulus would have us believe the recovery plan has failed. Those are, oddly enough, the same people who got us into this economic mess in the first place. They were wrong then, and they're wrong now.

Second, as Brad DeLong explained, the people providing the data for the NYT charts are economists "who sell their forecasts to paying clients." In other words, these aren't political players who have an incentive to skew the data -- to stay in business, they have to get these trends right. And when it comes to the stimulus, they're unanimous in their beliefs that the Recovery Act helped the economy considerably, and will continue to do so next year.

Third, my only complaint about the charts is that there isn't a third line -- one for the economy with the stimulus, one for the economy with no intervention, and one with what we would have seen if we'd taken the Republicans' advice. It was, after all, 95% of congressional Republicans who, at the height of the crisis, voted for a truly insane five-year spending freeze.

How they feel justified complaining now, rather than thanking president for preventing an economic catastrophe, is a point of ongoing concern.

There's no mystery here. The debate is over. The economy is obviously still struggling, but the stimulus did what it was supposed to do, and has made a real, positive difference.

Conservatives were wrong about Reagan's tax increases. They were wrong about Clinton's tax increases. They were wrong about Bush's tax cuts. And they're wrong again now.

That Republicans still manage to talk about economic policy at all demonstrates a remarkable amount of chutzpah.

Say Goodbye to Common Sense: RedState Compares Health Care Reform to Attack on Pearl Harbor
Posted by Brooke Obie, Media Matters for America on November 25, 2009 at 2:19 PM.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Damn Good Recipe for Stuffing Right Here
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on November 25, 2009 at 1:15 PM.

This is magic -- a classic Italian stuffing/dressing with a Southern accent. I've made a dozen variations on this, and every one has been a huge hit.

Whip up a big ole' pan of cornbread today. A pre-mix is fine. You're going to want to eat some when it comes out all hot and fresh, so make extra or else you'll just end up doing a second batch. I guess you'll need about 6-8 cups to make a enough stuffing for maybe 6 people, with leftovers for hangover sandwiches. Adjust from there.

Let it cool, crumble into teaspoon-size chunks and leave in a large bowl, uncovered, to get dry and crusty overnight. (Alternative: shred a big loaf of crusty peasant bread and let it dry out overnight -- this is the classic Italian version.)

I think making your own chicken stock is worth it, but a good store-bought organic deal -- the reduced sodium stuff -- will do. You'll need up to a quart, maybe even more depending on how dry your bread is.

Then, tomorrow ...

 

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Dana Perino Claims No Terrorist Attacks on U.S. During Bush Presidency
Posted by Jed Lewison, Daily Kos on November 25, 2009 at 12:18 PM.

This wonder of evolution was actually the Bush Administration's top spokesperson:
 

PERINO: Well, I...there is one thing that I would say about Ft. Hood that I feel strongly about, which is, and I don't say this to be political, I think it matters what we call it. And we had a terrorist attack on our country. And we should call it what it is because we need to face up to it so we can prevent it from happening again.

HANNITY: I agree with you, and why won't they say what you so simply just said.

PERINO: You know, they want to do all their investigations...I don't know their thinking that goes into it. But, you know, we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term. I hope they're not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. After all this is the same Dana Perino who is so embarrassingly ignorant that she didn't know what the Bay of Pigs was. (Even worse, she's so mind-numbingly stupid that she admitted it.)

This is the same Dana Perino who represented an administration who responded to the 9/11 attacks (which apparently didn't happen) by invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and justified the invasion (and thousands of American war deaths) on the basis of a threat posed by weapons of mass destruction that turned out to not exist.

And now she goes on teevee and says none of it ever happened, while attacking President Obama for not going nuclear over Ft. Hood. Presumably, Perino wants us to attack Yemen or something like that in response.

Well, actually, probably not. Dana Perino is too much of a moron to even know that Yemen is a country, much less to know how to find it on a map. It is an absolute and utter disgrace that we had someone with this little intellectual horsepower as our nation's top spokesperson.

No wonder the Bush years were such a complete disaster for America and the world. We had nitwits like this running the show. Anytime you see an organization where Karl Rove is the smartest person in the room, you know you're in trouble.

They spent eight years screwing things up. Now they should have the good sense and humility to crawl back in their holes and shut up while the next Administration goes about cleaning up their mess. But no. Instead we they go on their broadcast channel and spew nonsense like this.

There is one bright spot to all this. It's a reminder that George W. Bush truly was:

The. Worst. President. Ever.

Predatory Capitalism Alert: Watch Out for These Credit Card Scams
Posted by DaveJ , Open Left on November 25, 2009 at 10:55 AM.

The other day Digby wrote about a scam by Bank of America, where they switched the monthly bill's envelope to look like junk mail, so people threw it away, and they collect million upon millions in late fees.

The plain brown envelope looked like it was one of those car dealership "checks" that were all the rage before the credit crisis hit. And because I didn't realize the first month that I hadn't gotten my bill, it created a black mark on my credit for a late payment which resulted in a cascade of raised rates on several cards.

It was clearly a sneaky trick. ... And that's what people are dealing with all the time as consumers, with their health insurance, their credit cards, their mortgages, their pensions -- overwhelming complexity designed to trip them up and cost them money or deny them benefits to which they believed in good faith they were entitled. And its all perfectly legal -- or at least there's no visible accountability for it.

Me, too!  Chase ran a scam on me but I didn't realize it was just a scam until I was talking with someone else and found out exactly the same thing happened to her.  I had automatic payments set up so any balance was paid out of my checking account.  (I never, ever, ever, ever carry a balance on credits cards.  And you should never, ever, ever do that either.)  

They stopped the automatic payments, and charged me late fees.

 I fought it, and filed a complaint with the Fed, and when I got them to reverse the late fee, they applied a fee reversal fee!  That card is long gone.

So how many of you got socked by AOL, where you couldn't get them to stop charging your card?  How many have been hit by other scams?  How about cell phone scams, like Verizon's various scams -- VCast when you didn't want it, or the deal where they put the key for "Get It Now" or "Mobile Web" where you accidentally hit it all the time, and they charge you each time?

Predatory capitalism is the name of the game, and it is the game of the country.

But it's a year after the election and still nothing is getting done about any of this big-corporate corruption!  Democrats have a huge opportunity to demonstrate that they are on the side of regular people -- but just enough corrupt Democrats in the Senate are joining with the totally-corrupt Republicans to keep anything from getting done.

Digby writes,

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Palin Suggests Reforming Canada's Universal Health Care System: 'Let The Private Sector Take Over'
Posted by Igor Volsky, Think Progress on November 25, 2009 at 9:52 AM.

Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (playing the character of Marg Delahunty) attended a Sarah Palin book signing in the United States last week and asked the "thrilla from Wasilla, the Alaskan Aphrodite" if she had "any words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so hard to try to diminish that kind of socialized medicine we have up there."

"Keep the faith and that common-sense conservatism," Palin said to Walsh, who was being pushed out of the store by bodyguards. "It needs to be plugged into Canadian policies too. Keep the faith!" Palin cried out.

After the event, Walsh waited in the loading dock of the Borders bookstore "close to where Palin’s bus was parked." Palin came over and energetically encouraged Walsh to "keep the faith" again and suggested that Canada needs to reform its health care system to "let the private sector take over":

WALSH: Ms. Palin, I tried to ask you a question inside, but I didn't hear your answer! The Canadians! Ms. Palin!

PALIN: Well, my answer was too keep the faith. My answer was to keep the faith. Cause that common sense conservatism can be plugged-in there in Canada too. In fact Canada needs to reform its health care system and let the private sector take over some of what the government has absorbed. So thank you, keep the faith.

Watch it:

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Japan Fines 'Fat' People, Companies Must Measure Waist Lines of Employees
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on November 25, 2009 at 8:00 AM.

The U.S. usually steals the headlines when it comes to stories about being overweight. Obesity in the U.S. is no joke for sure. As I wrote a few months ago, 60 percent of adults and 16 percent of children are obese. But today, the news is all about Japan. Japan?!

A CNN news story (watch below) is reporting that Japan has issued new guidelines. "Companies and local governments must now measure waist lines of all employees and family members over the age of 40," they reported. Apparently if you don't make the cut, your company can be fined massively and will get increased health premiums. The company the reporter profiled, NEC, is facing 19 million dollars in penalties if employees don't slim down.

And what's overweight by Japanese standards? Men with waists over 33.5 inches and women over 35.5 inches. I can't even imagine issuing fines for Americans under those guidelines!

While the story didn't go into a great deal of depth, the reporter blamed recent weight gain in Japan on U.S. foods. Standing outside a McDonald's, she compared the typical Japanese meal (vegetables, miso soup, and fish) at 600 calories to the MickeyD's burger, fries, and coke, which comes in at 1300 calories. Woops, sorry guys. I guess it wasn't enough to screw up the health of everyone in our own country. Yeah for globalization.

It would seem to me that there is both a good and a bad side to this.

 

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Meet the RNC's New, Racist Adviser
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on November 25, 2009 at 6:02 AM.

Evidently Michael Steele has been miffed that he didn't get enough credit for the GOPs sweeping takeover of American politics in the November elections (well, except for the congressional seats which all went to Democrats)so he forced out the RNC spokesman for some reason. But the spokesman has been replaced by a heavyweight:

The Republican National Committee has hired Alex Castellanos, a long-time political strategist and GOP consultant, as an adviser.

Castellanos has been described (according to his National Media biography) as the "father of the attack ad." He's best known for a racially-charged ad he made in 1990 for racist former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). The ad, called "Hands," featured a pair of white hands crumbling a job-rejection while the narrator said, "You needed that job. You were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority, because of a racial quota. Is that really fair?" More recently, Castellanos has taken the lead in crafting an anti-health care reform message for congressional Republicans.

But that doesn't really do him justice. He's had so more "successes." I'm sure you'll recall this one:

During the heated 2000 U.S. presidential campaign season, Castellanos produced an ad for the Republican National Committee attempting to discredit the prescription drug plan policy offered by U.S. Democratic Party presidential nominee and then-Vice President Al Gore.[4] Alongside images of Gore, the ad showed the word "RATS" for a split second, before the complete word "bureaucrats" appeared on-screen.

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The Stupak Speech Senate Dems (and Stupak Himself) Need to Hear
Posted by Rebecca Sive, RH Reality Check on November 25, 2009 at 4:36 AM.

No one reading this has forgotten that, a couple Saturday nights ago, the House of Representatives passed a healthcare "reform" bill that included your so-called Stupak Amendment.

In doing this, the House codified an American healthcare system, what an oxymoron that is, in which women’s very lives are subject to the whims of weak-kneed, sexist, soulless, woman-hating politicians--led by you--who don’t believe the Supreme Court really meant it, when it said there is a right to privacy under the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right to obtain an abortion. 

For, after all, this is the true intent of your bill: to make legal abortion unattainable.

Clearly, you, along with your Republican and Democratic pals, don’t care whether American women live or die.  

Now that your nefarious deed is done, and the nation’s attention turns to the Senate this Saturday night, you, your pals, the nation, and the Senate need to hear the speech presented below. I hope someone will give it. And I hope, fervently, that you will listen, very, very carefully: Listen and learn. Take-in what you have wrought, and then think again. 

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Torture-Defending Brennan Will Not Be CIA Chief, Chides Liberal Blogs
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 25, 2008 at 5:50 PM.

A number of bloggers -- most notably Glenn Greenwald, Digby, and Andrew Sullivan -- have raised serious concerns about intelligence official John Brennan, who's been rumored to be a possible candidate for either the CIA director or the Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration.

 

Brennan's critics accused him of supporting some of the Bush administration's most offensive intelligence-gathering policies, including rendition and "enhanced interrogation techniques." Obama, they said, even if he intended to move far away from those policies, should not make room for Brennan in his administration.

The criticism seems to have had the desired effect. Brennan has withdrawn from consideration for any intelligence post in the Obama administration.

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Bush's Gates Will Stay as Obama's Defense Secretary: Looks Like More War in Afghanistan
Posted by Ian Welsh, Firedoglake on November 25, 2008 at 4:56 PM.

Gates is staying on as Defense Secretary. What this means is simple enough, a continued draw down in Iraq and a surge (tm) in Afghanistan. Gates was, in effect, Bush Senior's man at Defense, cleaning up another one of Junior's messes. This also raises the question of whether generals who have gotten too big for their jobs, are going to be reigned in as they should be. Petraeus has been acting as proconsul, doing high level diplomacy and effectively running US foreign policy in a big chunk of the world. This was a function of Bush's weakness, his need of someone popular to carry his corpse around, as well Condi's complete sidelining from serious decision making. Irrespective of one's views on Petraeus's competence and integrity, however, it's not a healthy situation, and the Obama administration should take back the roles which don't belong to any general.Gates seems unlikely to be the man to do that, but it's hard to imagine Clinton, for example, allowing anyone to usurp her prerogatives, so we shall see how it plays out.

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Obama Takes a Dig at Bush: 'When We Make Mistakes, We Admit Them'
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on November 25, 2008 at 2:51 PM.

During yesterday's press conference with President-elect Obama, the journalists were divided into a White Sox section and a Cubs section. The pool reporter lamented that he -- "a genuine White Sox fan" -- was assigned to the Cubs section. During today's press conference, Obama apologized to the reporter and took a shot at the Bush administration's unwillingness to admit error:

I understand that as a life-long White Sox fan, you were placed in the Cubs section yesterday. And I want to apologize for that. This is also part of the new way of doing business: When we make mistakes, we admit them.

Watch it:

The reporter, Steve Thomma, responded, "Thank you sir, that's the change we need on behalf of White Sox fans."

Palin Is Hitting the Campaign Trail for Chambliss
Posted by Rachel Weiner, Huffington Post on November 25, 2008 at 1:52 PM.

TPM reports that Sarah Palin is going back on the trail on behalf of GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is in a runoff election against Democrat Jim Martin:

Palin will be holding four rallies across the state, in a race that will make the difference in the Dems' efforts to get 60 seats this year, along with the Minnesota recount. This runoff election is all about jazzing up the base -- and whatever her faults, few if any Republicans did as good a job of that this year as Palin.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more information on the event:

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Woman Wins Date With 'Great Catch,' Gets Raped
Posted by Staff, AlterNet on November 25, 2008 at 11:16 AM.

From the Chicago Tribune:

A Lake County woman who won a date with a man a radio station called a "great" catch is suing the station for promoting the man, who had a criminal history and allegedly sexually assaulted her on the date she won.

The woman, who filed the suit late Thursday under the name Jane Doe, said Waukegan radio station WXLC, which is owned by NextMedia, ran the "Win a Date with Travis" competition last year. The radio station said Travis Harvey of Gurnee was a "great guy" and "kind." But as a busy single father, Harvey couldn't find the time to meet the right woman.

Female contestants came to an event hosted by the radio station on Jan. 30, 2007, at a Waukegan sports bar. They sat down with Harvey to answer rounds of questions, said Bob Baizer, one of the attorneys who filed the suit on Jane Doe's behalf.

Doe, then 23, won, and that weekend Harvey promised her a date at Chicago's House of Blues -- only to later say he was too tired, and invited her to his home for pizza instead, Baizer said. The woman went, and after a single drink, felt extremely drowsy. Harvey then raped her, the suit alleges. Attorneys say she was drugged.

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Obama Should Not Ignore Immigration Policy While Focusing on the Economy
Posted by Cristina Jimenez, DMI Blog on November 25, 2008 at 10:09 AM.

Despite the strong and decisive support from the immigrant electorate, many say immigration reform won't be in the agenda during the first year of the Obama administration. The economy is everyone's priority.

But some recent entrepreneurship reports indicate that the new administration should not ignore immigration policy when trying to help the economy.

A new study for the Small Business Administration by Rob Fairlie of UC Santa Cruz found that immigrants are nearly 30 percent more likely to start a business than non-immigrants, and they represent 16.7 percent of all new business owners in the United States. Nearly 30 percent of all new business owners per month in New York, Florida, and Texas, are immigrants.

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Obama Announces Budget Team, Vows to Cut Wasteful Spending
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on November 25, 2008 at 10:02 AM.

Yesterday, the president-elect introduced his economic team. This afternoon, Barack Obama returned to the podium to announce his budget team: Peter Orszag as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Robert Nabors as the deputy director. They're pretty impressive folks who'll no doubt serve the nation well.

One thing that came up during the brief event in Chicago is Obama's intention to cut wasteful spending from the budget.

"[I]f we're going to make the investments we need, we must also be willing to shed the spending we don't. In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative. We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group. We simply cannot afford it.

"This isn't about big government or small government. It's about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget -- page by page, line by line -- eliminating those programs we don't need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way."

Given that the times call for increased government spending, what is Obama planning to cut? He offered an example: "There's a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President."

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CNN Ordered by Judge to Rehire Workers Fired for Being Union Members
Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress on November 25, 2008 at 9:11 AM.

In a decision made public yesterday, a judge has ordered CNN "to rehire 110 workers who were fired because they were union members. CNN also was ordered to recognize the workers' unions, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA (NABET-CWA) locals 31 and 11." From the AFL-CIO blog:

Judge Arthur Amchan found that CNN violated the rights of more than 250 employees at the network's bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City when it ended its subcontract with Team Video Services (TVS) [in 2003-2004], whose employees were represented by NABET-CWA. He also ruled that CNN discriminated against TVS employees who wanted to continue working at CNN's bureaus to avoid having to recognize and bargain with the union.

Ed McEwan, president of Local 11, responded, "Everyone in America should know that the network management we rely on to bring us the news are not above the illegal practices that they headline on a regular basis."

Fail: Gop Tries to Rebrand, Dresses Up Women in Fur for Offensive 'Pretty in Mink' Calender
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on November 25, 2008 at 8:02 AM.

From Taylor Marsh:

Republican women decked out in mink coats. Not exactly a 21st century image. But it sure says it all about the GOP. Their problem in a nutshell, or maybe should I say in a calendar.

Announcing the conservative women "Pretty in Mink" calendar. The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute hammers home that Republicans are a 20th century party, complete with smart, even beautiful women, but whose ideas simply don't match the times.

Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin preening in fur coats. Now that's classic conservatism.

Attempting to save a dying industry through featuring a dying political brand, both in need of rescue.

But at least the girls look great.

h/t to reader Bill who adds, "they'd better watch their backs or Sarah Palin might accidentally shoot them."

Florida Gay Adoption Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Posted by Mustang Bobby, Shakesville on November 25, 2008 at 7:48 AM.

Following up on this post, here is some great news:

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared that Forida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional -- a ruling that state lawyers immediately said they would challenge.

The ruling sets the stage Frank Gill, a gay man from North Miami, to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004.

In a 53-page ruling, Judge Lederman said, ''It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent.''

Two lawyers from the Florida Attorney General's Office said they would file an appeal Tuesday.

''We respect the court's decision,'' said Assistant Attorney General Valerie Martin. ''Based upon the wishes of our client, the Department of Children & Families, we will file an appeal.''

Gill, who is raising the half-brothers, ages 4 and 8, said he was ''elated'' by the ruling and ''I cried tears of joy for the first time in my life.''

And another brick crumbles from the wall of inequality.

Scathing Editorial in the NYT Critiques Obama's Economic Team
Posted by David Sirota, Open Left on November 25, 2008 at 7:41 AM.

The New York Times editorial board, which vigorously endorsed Barack Obama for president, has a fairly scathing editorial today about the President-elect's economic team:

Both men, however, have played central roles in policies that helped provoke today's financial crisis. Mr. Geithner, currently the president of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, also has helped shape the Bush administration's erratic and often inscrutable responses to the current financial meltdown, up to and including this past weekend's multibillion-dollar bailout of Citigroup.

Given that history, the question that most needs answering is not whether Mr. Geithner and Mr. Summers are men of talent - obviously they are - but whether they have learned from their mistakes, and if so, what.

We are not asking for moral mea culpas. But unless they recognize their past mistakes, there is little hope that they can provide the sound judgment and leadership that the country needs to dig out of this desperate mess.

Sound criticism, if you ask me. But I wonder -- will progressives now start claiming the New York Times "hates" Obama? Or can we actually consider the merits of this argument, and consider how to organize pressure around the reality it elucidates?

Franken Camp Calls for Investigation of Missing Ballots
Posted by Sam Stein, Huffington Post on November 25, 2008 at 7:33 AM.

Al Franken's Senate campaign called on the Minnesota Secretary of State to launch a comprehensive investigation into the possibility of missing ballots in the state's recount election.

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, aides to the Democratic challenger said that they were growing increasingly concerned with news reports that ballots from Election Day -- which by state law must be recounted -- have gone missing.

"The number of votes counted on November 4th," said spokesman Andy Barr, "exceeds the number of ballots produced for consideration during the recount."

Marc Elias, Franken's chief lawyer, said that the campaign was not alleging foul play, noting that many of these missing ballots could be the product of administrative oversight or simple misplacement. But, with the election margin down to double digits (according to the Franken campaign's internal numbers, which they would not detail) he added that every single vote was of the utmost importance.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Did the Citibank Bailout Screw the American Taxpayer?
Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake on November 25, 2008 at 7:25 AM.

Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, who is a member of the Obama transition economic advisory board, appeared on Rachel Maddow.  Of the Citibank bailout, he said:

SCHMIDT:   When I looked at the structure of the Citibank deal, it looks roughly correct.  And I know that both President Bush and President Elect Obama and their teams worked on getting it right.  It's got the right set of incentives, the right ownerships and the right guarantees.

Really?

Krugman:

Mark Thoma has the rundown of informed reactions. A bailout was necessary -- but this bailout is an outrage: a lousy deal for the taxpayers, no accountability for management, and just to make things perfect, quite possibly inadequate, so that Citi will be back for more.

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Robert Redford Slams Bush on the Rachel Maddow Show
Posted by Staff, Huffington Post on November 25, 2008 at 7:14 AM.

The Bush Administration is engaged in a last-minute flurry of efforts to open up environmentally sensitive and protected wilderness in Utah to drilling for oil and gas. Renowned actor, director and environmental activist Robert Redford appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to denounce these final attempts to relax environmental regulations, an issue about which he recently blogged for the Huffington Post.WATCH:

Walking the Tightrope: Obama Ready to Take Action But Not Yet in Charge
Posted by James Warren, Huffington Post on November 25, 2008 at 5:03 AM.

All that was missing Monday was a gilded sedan chair for Barack Obama and a rocking chair for George Bush.

The contrast in images amid the greatest economic crisis of our generation was stark. President Obama, ah, President-elect Obama, was surrounded by his quartet of top economic advisers and dozens of media in Chicago, while President Bush was on the steps of the Treasury Building, with Henry Paulson both at his back and inadvertently exuding the air of a sincere gym teacher improbably promoted to principal.

The place to be is Chicago with Obama, with the first hints of winter and snow fittingly in the air amid the national anxiety. For sure, it reflects the wickedly short attention spans of us folks in the media; of our professional ambitions, personal futures, TV appearances and maybe even speaking fees now tied to the new star. By contrast, the C-SPAN airings of White House briefings back in D.C. show us journalists whose melancholy air hints at their having been relegated to maximum security isolation in the dankest of state prisons.

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Dispatch From Down Under: John Howard is Toast!
Posted by Alison Jobling, AlterNet on November 25, 2007 at 7:14 AM.

Today, it feels great to be Australian. I've woken up in an Australia that has waved bye-byes to John Howard and his Liberal* government, after nearly 12 years of the whining little weasel and his passel of purse-lipped nationalistic sycophants.

Labor's Kevin Rudd, the PM-elect, ran on restoring working Australians' beaten-down bargaining power, taking on climate change and getting Aussie troops out of Iraq. With four-fifths of the vote counted, there was a popular swing from Liberal to Labor of almost eleven points compared to the previous election.

It's not perfect, of course. For years, the Labor party has been moving towards the center, in a Democratic-style triangulation that's progressively abandoned their traditional base while failing to appeal to staunch Liberal voters. So I don't expect a worker's paradise, full of health care and education for all, with lashings of renewable energy and a humanitarian foreign policy.

But it's a start. Labor's gain of 24 seats from the Coalition** gives it a comfortable majority of 86 to 62 in the House. And, to add the icing on the gloating cake, there's a chance that Howard might lose his own seat. And not only lose, but lose in a manner that should cause him conniption fits: his opponent is female, well-educated, and a very well-respected journalist from the Australian Broadcasting Commission which Howard thinks is riddled with 'left-wing media bias'.

There are also a few interesting points about this election that are not immediately obvious.

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Ron Paul Says He Won’t Support GOP Nominee
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on November 25, 2007 at 7:12 AM.

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

Last month, during a Republican debate, Ron Paul was asked whether he promised to support the GOP nominee next year, no matter who emerges from the primary process. "Not right now I don't," Paul said, "not unless they're willing to end the war and bring our troops home."

Apparently, in the ensuing weeks, "not right now" has become "no."

Paul called his Republican presidential rivals, including frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, "neo-conservatives" whom he couldn't support in the general election should his own bid fail.

"They think we're supposed to spread our goodness through force," Paul said. For example, none will pledge not to wage war on Iran, he said. "How could I support something like that?"

Apparently, he can't. But it means that of the top seven candidates in the Republican field, Paul is the only one who isn't prepared to support the party's eventual nominee. It's not the kind of thing that will go over well within the party, but then again, Paul's interest in the Republican Party appears nominal -- it's a venue for him to advance his ideas and agenda, not necessarily an opportunity for him to lead the party.

It's interesting to note the contrast between Paul's comments and John Edwards'. A couple of weeks ago, Edwards hedged when asked if he would support the eventual Democratic nominee, no matter who it is. When he initially hesitated, it caused a minor stir in Democratic circles -- how can Edwards expect to be the party's nominee if he's not willing to commit to honoring the party's nominating process?

No one seems to be saying that about Paul, in large part because no one seems to consider Paul part of the Republican mainstream.

For that matter, it also once again raises the specter of an independent Paul bid.

During an MSNBC interview earlier this month, Norah O'Donnell followed up on this point:

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Anti-Putin Presidential Candidate Beaten and Arrested
Posted by Manila Ryce, The Largest Minority on November 25, 2007 at 7:09 AM.

This post, written by Manila Ryce, originally appeared on The Largest Minority

Chess grandmaster and Russian presidential candidate Garry Kasparov was forced to the ground, beaten, and arrested by Moscow riot police yesterday during an anti-Kremlin rally of around 3,000 people. Protesters attempted to deliver a petition to the Central Election Commission building, but were stopped and pushed into three police buses. Kasparov is head of Other Russia, an umbrella coalition of several movements opposed to the authoritarian control of President Vladimir Putin.

Kasparov was taken to a city court, where he was sentenced to five days in jail for organizing an unauthorized protest and resisting arrest. "What you've heard is all lies," Kasparov said after the sentence was read. "The testimony is contradictory. There was not a single word of truth." Two riot police testified in court that they were given direct orders before the rally to arrest Kasparov. One of the policemen did acknowledge that the two reports filed were contradictory.

Kasparov has stated his intention to run for the presidency next March, but his party, along with a number of other opposition parties, has been denied registration for the upcoming parliamentary vote. Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party, was also arrested.

source

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Michael 'Heckuva Job' Brown's next job
Posted by Evan Derkacz on November 25, 2005 at 10:43 AM.

Smashing FEMA success Michael Brown has a new job. He's "starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job."

Condi allows 9/11 and gets promoted to Secretary of State, Gonzalez writes the torture memo and gets promoted to Attorney General, George Tenet and Bremer get medals of honor and on and on...

Argh writes: "You can't make up stuff like this."

Peek writes: No comment. (Monkeyfilter)

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