Obama Daily

POSTED BY JHW22

The Obama team has been active in communicating, they just choose to communicate in less traditional ways. That was key to their win in November 2008 and is something they continue to prioritize in their communication strategy today. They are active on WhiteHouse.gov, Facebook and Twitter -- posting speeches and statements by a variety of advisers and staff on a variety of topics. They hold online Q & A's and live-stream conferences and press events.

They are sharing information. Are you getting it?

Today I received an email with their newest form of outreach, The White House Daily Snapshot, an email update that provides daily schedules for Obama and Biden as well as top stories from The White House Blog.

So if you want to stay on top of what's happening, here's one more tool provided by the Obama administration.

Here is what today's update looks like:

Photo of the Day



A guest follows the remarks of speakers with the assistance of a sign language interpreter, during an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the South Lawn of the White House, July 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

View More White House Photos

Today’s Schedule

Starting this week, the President and Vice President's daily public schedules will be published on WhiteHouse.gov. Check out the schedule here. You can subscribe to the schedule via RSS feed or add it to your calendar using iCal.
All times are Eastern Daylight Time.
9:30 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
10:00 AM: The President receives the Economic Daily Briefing
11:00 AM: The President meets with bipartisan members of Congress
12:00 PM: The President delivers a statement to the press
1:30 PM: The Vice President delivers remarks at Grand Canyon National Park
1:30 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
2:00 PM: Clean Energy Economy Forum - Energy Security
3:05 PM: The President congratulates the Warner Robins Softball World Series Champions
4:00 PM: The President meets with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner
4:30 PM: The President meets with Secretary of Defense Gates
7:00 PM: The President attends a DNC Fundraising Dinner
Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/live. 

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.

President Obama on Citizens United: "Imagine the Power This Will Give Special Interests Over Politicians" (includes video)

President Obama and Vice President Biden’s Daily Public Schedules Now Online
Reaching Out to Rural America: Meeting with Students at the Delaware State Fair

Special Needs

POSTED BY JHW22

When Sarah Palin ran for VP, she said that she would be an advocate -- a friend -- to families who have children with special needs. Because her son has Down Syndrome, she understands the families' need for research, education, emotional and financial support. She understands that families with a special needs child have special needs of their own. And she has kept her promise by making a few speeches and a few donations. Granted, I thought she'd keep that promise by doing far more. But shame on me for setting my expectations just a little higher.

Yesterday was the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act -- the law that ensures people with special needs have full access to jobs, transportation, entertainment and safety. Nancy Pelosi celebrated the day by posting this on her Facebook page:

For all celebrating the 20th anniversary of the historic Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) civil rights legislation today, I wanted to share this moment from the House floor. This afternoon, Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), who is quadriplegic, became the first Member of Congress in a wheelchair to preside over the House. The Speaker’s rostrum on the House Floor was recently made wheelchair-accessible through a series of lifts.

What an amazing moment. What a great way to show the strength that Americans gain from a law created to make life less difficult so that they can achieve their desires. What a way to celebrate special needs by showing how the ADA levels the playing field. Impressive and moving.

So how did the advocate -- friend -- of families with special needs honor the monumental day? Well, Sarah Palin posted on Facebook, also, too. Here's what she posted:

Journey into the Media’s Heart of Darkness

How ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig.

It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media publication that continues to traffic in this bizarre narrative today. It wasn’t just a few fringe characters in that JournoList discussion. It included writers for major newspapers, magazines, and online news publications. Those participating in this immature exchange in attempts to plant seeds of doubt and falsely accuse even included a famous historian.

This JournoList exchange exposes the warped nature of today’s media, thus explaining why many of us are forced, in fairness to the public, to utilize other mediums to communicate until the mainstream media wakes up and begins respecting the public’s intelligence and desire for truth in reporting. There is a sickness and darkness in today’s liberal media. With revelations like the JournoList exchanges, may the light keep shining to expose the problem.

It’s always darkest before the dawn. My hope, therefore, is that today, marking the anniversary of our nation’s attempt to show respect for our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters with special needs, will also mark the beginning of a new, more respectful discourse among members of our media who at least aspire to be fair and objective.

- Sarah Palin

Yeah, that's it. She has 1.9 million fans on her Facebook page and THAT is how she chose to advocate and be friends with families. THAT. That is one more example of her "Pawns and Shields" platform. Forget the fact that the reporters she took aim at CHOSE not to even touch the rumors that she wasn't Trig's birth mom. Forget that the reporters CHOSE not to write about her terrible judgment to fly while in labor. Forget that she just brought all that back into the open and yet, no one (except Andrew Sullivan) will even touch it. She is using private, undisclosed gossip that led to absolutely no personal attacks on her, to illustrate her respect for an anniversary that should make her son's life better.

Some think we should ignore Palin. If the media would just stop paying attention to her, she'd go away and we'd all be better off. But I say that as long as she has access to Twitter and Facebook and Fox News, she will make herself heard. And she will use every opportunity to further distort reality and frighten her fans into going along with whatever crap she shovels. She isn't going anywhere -- in fact she is marching boldly into a political future and she is taking hearts and minds with her.

In her speech linked above, Palin said:

"When I learned that Trig would have special needs, honestly, I had to prepare my heart."

Sometimes I wonder, has she prepared her heart -- or just strengthened her platform. And I wonder if we will let that slide for fear of her accusations that we attack her children when we attack her. Or will we say "Enough!" and hold her to her own words and actions and change those hearts and minds she captured with lies?

Tancredo is a Complete Wingnut

Credit where credit is due, Megyn Kelly knows he's a loon as well.

The Definition of Lynching

lynch   [linch]

–verb (used with object)

to put to death, esp. by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.

It would seem that The American Spectator's Jeffrey Lord should invest in a dictionary. In a stupendously moronic editorial, Lord accuses Shirley Sherrod of lying about a relative, Bobby Hall, being lynched in the 40's because he wasn't specifically hanged. He was arrested, taken to the courthouse and as he was taken out of the car still in handcuffs...

"...three petitioners began beating him with their fists and with a solid-bar blackjack about eight inches long and weighing two pounds...

...after Hall, still handcuffed, had been knocked to the ground, they continued to beat him from fifteen to thirty minutes until he was unconscious. Hall was then dragged feet first through the courthouse yard into the jail and thrown upon the floor, dying. An ambulance was called, and Hall was removed to a hospital, where he died within the hour and without regaining consciousness."

Since there was no noose, no tree and no hanging, according to Jeffrey Lord, this was not a lynching.

Is this what passes for intelligent editorials at The American Spectator? For Mr. Lord to believe the word "lynching" is not limited specifically to "hanging from a tree" without even looking it up, and therefore accuse Shirley Sherrod of lying because of it, is the very reason conservatives are painted in broad brush strokes as unfeeling, uncaring, racist boobs.

Really, Mr. Lord? Arguing semantics on the definition of "lynching"? I'm expecting a retraction or better yet, another article formally apologizing for your idiocy, but I won't hold my breath.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Quote of the Day

"What does it say about America now, and where it is heading, that a racial provocateur, wielding a deceptively edited video, could not only smear an innocent woman but make every national institution that touched the story look bad? The White House, the N.A.A.C.P. and the news media were all soiled by this episode. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans, who believe in fundamental fairness for all, grapple with the poisonous residue left behind by the many powerful people of all stripes who served as accessories to a high-tech lynching."

~ Frank Rich

White House of Cards

POSTED BY JHW22

"Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers making bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism."

~ President Obama in his famous speech on race.

Democrats can't play the race card because the right-wing holds the entire deck.

Rachel Maddow and Jonathan Alter had a great discussion about how the White House should handle the right-wing smears and I like what Rachel said but I agree with Jonathan Alter. Rachel said that the Obama campaign stopped the madness with a website. She used birthers as an example. Yet, the birthers still exist. Bills are introduced and passed because of birthers and the chaos they create. Birthers are running for office. So, no, Rachel, a website didn't put that to rest. And neither have you or Keith Olbermann or anyone else who takes on the right on a consistent basis. No one has found the solution. So frankly, getting mad at Obama for not having found it yet is a little passive.

I have yet to hear a good way to fight the smears for good without actually increasing them. The President of the United States has a lot of battles to choose from. Picking battles is a necessity. Should HE be the one picking this one or should we? We hate the crap. We need to fight it. I just haven't figured out how!

Daniel Schorr Dies at 93

NY TIMES: Daniel Schorr, whose aggressive reporting over 70 years as a respected broadcast and print journalist brought him into conflict with censors, the Nixon administration and network superiors, died on Friday in Washington. He was 93.

...At CBS, Mr. Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his coverage of the Watergate scandal and took pride in his often blunt reporting on the administration. In one instance he hurriedly began broadcasting after acquiring a copy of Nixon’s notorious “enemies list” only to discover in reading the names aloud that his was No. 17.

Must Reads

Joan Walsh: The Shame of Right-Wing "Journalism"

Bob Cesca: Fooled Again by Breitbart and the Wingnut Right

BooMan: Why Palin Won't Run for President

Political Party Pooper: How Corporatist-Conservative Policy Destroyed The American Economy

Chez Pazienza: Right and Wrong

Batocchio: The Five Circles of Conservative Hell

Elvis Dingeldein: I LOVE BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY... or, No Real Public Person Should Follow Me On Twitter

Bob Herbert: Thrown to the Wolves

Armadillo Joe recommends...

driftglass: The Negrological Constant REDUX and Who's Next?

Timothy B. Lee: Freeways and the Decline of St. Louis

Matt Johnson: Parking Takes Up Space

Joan Walsh: The Civil Rights Heroism of Charles Sherrod

President Obama's Weekly Address - July 24, 2010

Moving Forward on the Economy vs. Moving Backward

A Regular Epidumbic

I'm not a late night talk show viewer, but maybe I should start watching a little more Jimmy Kimmel.

Cartoon of the Day

Quit getting stuff done

POSTED BY JHW22

President Obama,

Can you please stop getting stuff done? You're making the Republicans look bad. First you pass health care reform ( it may not be perfect but gosh darn it it's better than what we had AND saves money) then you pass financial reform (it may not be perfect but gosh darn it it's better than what we had AND saves money). Add to that stuff like working to reduce nuclear weapons and other stuff and you're holding government so accountable that the Republicans will have more to do to take all these good things away from Americans. They'll have to work that much harder to convince Americans they don't want this stuff after all.

And now this! It says, "Since taking office, Obama has taken steps to cut wasteful spending in part by reducing improper payments. Last month, he ordered creation of a federal 'Do Not Pay List' — a database that agencies ultimately must search before cutting checks to individuals and contractors." Now you are going to make sure the government is going to cut checks more responsibly? But the Republicans are supposed to be the responsible party! You're make them look bad. Now knock it off! And tell those effective members of Congress who are working with you to knock it off, too!

Sincerely,
Snark

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Shirley Sherrod

This is arguably Olbermann's best special comment ever.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Fired up? Fired up?! Anyone? Anyone?"

Thar She Blows!

Holy shit.

Oh, By The Way, While We Freaked About Sherrod...

...this happened.



That's President Obama signing the Wall Street Reform bill into law.

If you’ve ever applied for a credit card, a student loan, or a mortgage, you know the feeling of signing your name to pages of barely understandable fine print. What often happens as a result is that many Americans are caught by hidden fees and penalties, or saddled with loans they can’t afford...

...with this law, unfair rate hikes... will end for good. And we’ll ensure that people... aren’t unwittingly caught by overdraft fees when they sign up for a checking account.

With this law, we’ll crack down on abusive practices in the mortgage industry. We’ll make sure that contracts are simpler -– putting an end to many hidden penalties and fees in complex mortgages -– so folks know what they’re signing.

With this law, students who take out college loans will be provided clear and concise information about their obligations.

And with this law, ordinary investors -– like seniors and folks saving for retirement –- will be able to receive more information about the costs and risks of mutual funds and other investment products, so that they can make better financial decisions as to what will work for them.

So, all told, these reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history... And these protections will be enforced by a new consumer watchdog with just one job: looking out for people -– not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses -– looking out for people as they interact with the financial system.

Shirley Sherrod

POSTED BY JHW22

I am livid. So livid I can't possibly formulate a proper post. So instead I will write free-form and hope it all makes sense when I am finished -- even to me.

Breitbart uses film editing as his weapon.
Fox News uses distortion as their weapon.

The left-wing media like the Huffington Post and groups like the NAACP see the weapon and throw their hands up.
The Department of Agriculture and the White House throw their hands up.

We are at the mercy of the right-wing media when they can use their constant hate, lies and fear-mongering to extort the citizens, the media and the government to do dance as if bullets are being fired at our feet.

Shirley Sherrod is the personal victim of the right-wing's lies and the left-wing's capitulation.
We are all victims of the aftermath.

I want Shirley Sherrod reinstated by President Obama and apologized to by ANYONE who perpetuated the lie about her. Yet, even when the truth is out, people will believe the lie and think the truth is the lie. It will be too late. And the people who will hold on to the lie are dangerous people. They are the ones who thrive on right-wing weaponry and chaos.

Now Fox is acting as if they had nothing to do with this and are going to pull the wool over their own viewers' eyes. And people will believe that lie, too.

Part of me keeps saying, please let this be a Rosa Parks moment. Please tell me that we will all learn from this and stop the cycle of destructive rhetoric and fear-based reaction. Please tell me that this honorable woman will be an example of how we should ALL learn from our personal struggles and see people as people. Let the destruction of her reputation result in a phoenix moment for her. Let her rise from the damage as the person we refer to when we say, "I beat back my personal '-isms' and rose above them." Let Shirley Sherrod be the person who forces us to beat back the cowardice and discuss racism in America.

And let's beg of our friends and family to THINK before they allow thirty-eight seconds to define a person or a story.

Here's Shirley Sherrod's entire speech.
Here is Rachel Maddow's thorough take on the chaos.
Here is the story unfolding on CNN.


EDITOR'S UPDATE (7/21/10, 2:45pm): ColorOfChange.org is petitioning President Obama to reinstate Shirley Sherrod. It only takes a minute to fill out a form and do the right thing.

Cartoon of the Day

I Refudiate that Wee Wee'd Up Remark

POSTED BY JHW22

Let's compare made up phrases, shall we?

When President Obama used the phrase "wee wee'd up" the intertubes went crazy analyzing what that expression meant although I knew exactly what he meant. To me it was perfectly clear that he was mocking the "Much Ado About Nothing" drama that arises when parties feign offense or cry out end of the world fears as frivolous opposition. It's like the baby-toe-as-little-piggy running wee wee wee all the way home.

Notice when Obama used the line, he was in the midst of making an audience laugh. Notice the smile on his face. Notice the tone of mocking. He was making fun of the ridiculous by using a word that was ridiculous. That's actually pretty clever.

Now, when Sarah Palin used the word "refudiate" the intertubes went crazy calling her out for using a word that doesn't exist. To me, and everyone else, it was clear that Sarah Palin just didn't know what the hell she was doing and made up a word out of pure stupidity. Of course she tried to cover it up by reminding Americans of the "wee wee'd up" comment and comparing herself to Shakespeare.

Notice when Sarah Palin used her fake word she was actually insulting an entire religion by asking good Muslim-Americans to turn their back on a place to practice their faith because of terrorists who attacked that faith as well as the Twin Towers. She actually suggested that a place of community and faith is harmful to Americans AS she harmed the English language.

So I am all for making up words. I am all for confusing words and spelling words incorrectly. But what I am not for is doing so while you "stab hearts" of good Americans who have the right to practice their religious beliefs in America.

Sarah, the pain you cause is "too raw, too real" and I reject you "in the interest of healing". Although, I will hang on to "refudiate" as a constant reminder of your hatred, bigotry and ignorance, also, too.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe For The English Language...

... here comes the Mama Grizzly calling for Obama to "refudiate" the NAACP's Tea Party resolution.

Somewhere in the heavens, Noah Webster just handed the Merriams a gun and asked to be shot in the face.

UPDATE (5:25pm): Looks like she's also tweeting to ask all "peaceful Muslims" to "refudiate" a mosque at Ground Zero.

Finally, someone in the Palin camp realized that "refudiate" isn't a word, and Mama Grizzly deleted the tweet, then compared herself to Shakespeare.



But Sarah, if you want to celebrate your bastardization of the English language, why did you delete your tweet?  Or perhaps I should ask, "Why did you refudiate it?"

Comparisons and Calls for Anger -- FAIL

POSTED BY JHW22

We could have the world's best political historians debate and we could never properly compare any two presidents. And I don't want to. Obama is Obama. 2010 is 2010. Can we learn from history? Yes. But we can never duplicate it or any person from it. Apples and oranges.

I think Obama is the same leader he was at the DNC in 2004. I believed in his red states/blue states speech and I believed in his Inauguration speech when he said he would be everyone's president. We may throw around insults like "enemy" about the Republicans and we may mock them and despise them. But I am really grateful I voted for a president who remembers that he is their president, too. He remembers that all Americans have a stake -- his ethics and behavior reflect that understanding.
I want him to get tough at times, sure, but he never was that man and isn't that man and yet he has still accomplished a great deal, as has this Congress. Him getting angry isn't THE solution, nor is it A solution. Cooler heads prevail and I want a president who has the coolest head in the country.

He is working his ass off against every conceivable and inconceivable hurdle and hasn't let up. Some may think he is a slacker because we don't see him 24/7. But I also don't want an actor on TV trying to say the thing that will make 300 million dramatic Americans feel better. I want him to focus on his job and not placating those who will just find one more thing they want him to make them feel better about. He's the president, not a bully, nor our therapist, nor our friend. His job is to get policies that help, not to say the right thing.

I feel for anyone out of a job and especially when they are being made out to be the problem by people in government who should be following the president's lead. They should remember that they represent all Americans. He isn't going to make them see that if he acts the way they do.

Mark Williams Booted From National Tea Party Federation

They're a "federation" now?  What am I, watching an old Star Trek repeat?

‘We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote,’ [federation spokesman David] Webb said of the blog post by Williams that satirized a fictional letter from what he called ‘Colored People’ to President Abraham Lincoln.

Webb called the blog post ‘clearly offensive.’

And as Oliver Willis notes, they'd have a lot more credibility on this matter had they expelled Williams over the last few months of hate speech bullshit spewing from this guy's mouth. Did it really necessitate a sick letter as a final nail in the coffin?

Also, if there is no room in the Tea Party for the likes of a Mark Williams, why are conservatives and Tea Party folk going apeshit over the NAACP's resolution to denounce any form of racism in their group? Seems like a no-brainer, and yet those with no brain are doing the "I'm offended" dance.

Mexico

posted by Armadillo Joe

I mentioned something a few posts back that may have seemed like a non-sequiter, about political instability in Mexico. It was just a passing comment, sure, but I think this, along with the clean-up of The Gulf, will be the major story of the next few years, maybe decades, because I think Mexico could be on the verge of socio-political collapse. The drug cartels basically run the show down there, and they're ramping up the violence (via HuffPost):

Mexico Drug War Sees First Ever Car Bomb

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — The first successful car bombing by a drug cartel brings a new dimension of terror to a Mexican border region already shocked by random street battles, bodies dangling from bridges and highway checkpoints mounted by heavily armed criminals.

[...]

Mexican cartels – armed with billions of dollars and networks of informers among corrupt police forces – have long demonstrated their ability to target the highest-ranking security officials and government officials.

Last month, cartel gunmen killed 12 federal police in the western state of Michoacan. A jailed suspect later described the carefully planned ambush to police, making it clear the gang knew exactly where the police patrol was going to be and when.

And in another first, suspected cartel gunmen assassinated two candidates during campaigning last month for local and state elections, including the leading contender for governor of the northern border state of Tamaulipas. Never before had drug gangs killed such a high-ranking electoral candidate.

And you'll never guess where they're getting so much of the weaponry they use to be the de facto ruling party in Mexico:

Mexican drug cartels' newest weapon: Cold War-era grenades made in U.S.

MEXICO CITY -- Grenades made in the United States and sent to Central America during the Cold War have resurfaced as terrifying new weapons in almost weekly attacks by Mexican drug cartels.

Sent a generation ago to battle communist revolutionaries in the jungles of Central America, U.S. grenades are being diverted from dusty old armories and sold to criminal mafias, who are using them to destabilize the Mexican government and terrorize civilians, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials.

The spirit of Saint Ronnie lives on! A generation after he launched his War on American civil liberties Drugs, at the same time he sent U.S. weapons and arms south to thwart pesky commies in Central America (remember Iran-Contra?), that very same War on American civil liberties Drugs has over the last 30 years driven demand so high in our bloated, self-indulgent country that the Mexican cartels making money running this stuff across our borders have become wealthy.

Very wealthy. As in, amounts of money usually bantered about when discussing things like sovereign wealth funds. But for that money to have any buying power in the real world, it must be clean.

American banks to the rescue. How much money are we talking about? A lot...

Wachovia admitted it didn’t do enough to spot illicit funds in handling $378.4 billion for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. That’s the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history -- a sum equal to one-third of Mexico’s current gross domestic product.

Yes, Virginia, that is a lot of buying power. Enough buying power to maybe even pick up a whole government or two. Take a whole lot of drugs to make that kind of dough. And that's just through one bank in America. But don't you worry your pretty little head about it, right? The G-Men will swoop in and punish the wrong-doers... unless they are, you know, too big to fail...

No big U.S. bank -- Wells Fargo included -- has ever been indicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act or any other federal law. Instead, the Justice Department settles criminal charges by using deferred-prosecution agreements, in which a bank pays a fine and promises not to break the law again.

‘No Capacity to Regulate’

Large banks are protected from indictments by a variant of the too-big-to-fail theory.

Indicting a big bank could trigger a mad dash by investors to dump shares and cause panic in financial markets, says Jack Blum, a U.S. Senate investigator for 14 years and a consultant to international banks and brokerage firms on money laundering.

The theory is like a get-out-of-jail-free card for big banks, Blum says.

“There’s no capacity to regulate or punish them because they’re too big to be threatened with failure,” Blum says. “They seem to be willing to do anything that improves their bottom line, until they’re caught.”

One of the definitions of government is the monopoly on violence and the threat of violence for coercive ends. The drug cartels are reaching a level of power and influence through their own use of extra-governmental violence that they appear likely to succeed in replacing the apparatus of the state of Mexico in all but name. And once the drug cartels neuter the Mexican government altogether and violence on our southern border spills across into our own country, to say nothing of the political refugees fleeing the ensuing anarchy, we'll have people like this to welcome them:

Neo Nazi Leads Vigilante Arizona Border Patrol: 'We'll Kill Them'

Arizona's controversial new immigration law has been hailed by many on the far right. But to some, like neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, the new bill is too weak. So he and some fascist buddies are roaming the desert looking for Mexicans!

[...]

37-year-old Jason "J.T." Ready, and his group America First, are full on National Socialists and are sick of Mexican "narco terrorists" crossing the border into their state.

[...]

what does J.T. Ready say he and his pals will do if they see Mexicans trying to cross illegally into Arizona? "We'll Kill Them."

And that's why we should all be very worried about what's happening right now in Mexico.

Must Reads

Chris Kelly: Laura Ingraham's New Book Could Be Better

John Cole: Apart From Better Sanitation and Medicine and Education and Irrigation and Public Health and Roads and a Freshwater System and Baths and Public Order… What Have the Romans Done for Us?

The Rude Pundit: Nevada Senate Candidate Sharron Angle Is a Fucking Retard, Too

David W. Dunlap: 18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site

Jon Perr: Meet the New Republican Alchemists

Peter Beinart: The Tea Party's Immigration Hypocrisy

Elise Foley: Violent Crime Is Down in Arizona, Up in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s County

Matt Taibbi: The Steinbrenner Slobituary

President Obama's Weekly Address - July 17, 2010

Filibustering Recovery & Obstructing Progress

"Some Republican leaders actually treat this unemployment insurance as if it’s a form of welfare. They say it discourages folks from looking for work. Well, I’ve met a lot of folks looking for work these past few years, and I can tell you, I haven’t met any Americans who would rather have an unemployment check than a meaningful job that lets you provide for your family.

...after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, including a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, [Republican leaders] finally decided to make their stand on the backs of the unemployed. They’ve got no problem spending money on tax breaks for folks at the top who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them; but they object to helping folks laid off in this recession who really do need help."

Zbigniew Brzezinski Is One, Smart... SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

...But I'm talkin' 'bout Zbigniew!

A long but very informative and eye-opening clip including discussions about BP, foreign policy based on a moral compass, 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yep, That's My Moronic Citizenry!

Via Political Wire:

A new Pew Research poll finds that just 34% of Americans know that the federal government's bank bailout program was actually signed into law by President Bush while 47% incorrectly believe it was enacted during the Obama's administration.

I know this news isn't really surprising, but maybe if our attention deficit disorder afflicted population spent just a little more time paying attention to matters of importance instead of Keeping Up with The Kardashians, Jersey Shore, Real Housewives of Orange County or Fox News Channel, we'd all be a lot better off.

But hey, why believe your lying eyes when you can blame the black guy?

Make. It. STOP!

Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin are already looking to bring outsiders into their upcoming marriage -- in the form of a reality TV crew ... this according to a source very familiar with the negotiations.

TMZ has learned the couple has been shopping "multiple reality shows" around town -- some of the ideas involve the couple AND their two-year-old son, Tripp.

We're told the leading concept involves all three people -- and will focus on "parenting issues."

Nothing to see here folks. Just another white trash attempt at financial opportunity, you know, because America is the land of opportunity... unless you're "colored." If I hear Mama Grizzly talk about how the "lamestream media" should leave her cub pack alone, I'm going to put a bullet in my brain.

So... show titles, anyone?

The Wasilla Hillbillies?
Wasilla 99654?
Northern Overexposure?

Nope! No Racism Associated With Tea Party, Right Sarah?

I am eagerly awaiting Sarah Palin and the rest of the Tea Party to jettison Mark Williams for this disgusting letter. Otherwise, they are all full of shit. Every, single one of them. No excuses. Denounce Williams are forever be branded as racists.

Obama Can't Close The Deal? Yeah... RIght.

You can argue over whether Obama’s achievements are good or bad on the merits. But especially after Thursday’s vote you can’t argue that Obama is not getting things done. To the contrary, he has, as promised, covered the uninsured, tightened regulations, started to wind down the war in Iraq and shifted focus and resources to Afghanistan, injected more competition into the education system and edged closer to a big energy bill.

This quote from Politico's John F. Harris & Jim Vandehei continues the pushback to Eric Alterman's diatribe the other day about how President Obama's current tenure is so disappointing,  "significant accomplishments notwithstanding." And really, if any of our accomplishments are to be cast aside in a futile, report card type of exercise, wouldn't we all be lacking?

Here again, is President Obama's "disappointing" record in just 18 months.

Fierce Urgency of Patience

POSTED BY JHW22

Looking back on the Obama campaign, I think there were two major blunders in their messaging that sounded great at the time but have become a problem for the administration.

1) Thinking that the MLK phrase "The fierce urgency of now" wouldn't confuse the instant-gratification-psychosis of Americans. Many either didn't hear or have forgotten when Obama also said "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term." And now the fierce urgency (aka impatience) of America is biting the Obama Administration in the butt.

I have a preschooler who asks to do B so I'll say, "Yes, after we finish A". Emotional chaos ensues because he equates "wait" with "no". That is how America is acting toward Obama. If he hasn't accomplished each American's personal agenda by now, they react as if waiting equals never. Add to that the unwillingness of my son or Americans to listen and process, and we face a lot of unnecessary chaos.

As I tell my son, waiting does not mean no, but tantrums make the wait longer and more unbearable.

2) Saying the campaign wasn't about Obama but about US spoke to the me-me-me psychosis of America . He repeatedly reminded Americans of our role in our government. He was absolutely correct and it was something I appreciated. But now, not so much. Now each American thinks they now control each decision, priority and sentence coming out of the governing process. Should we play a role? Definitely. But the phrase "too many cooks in the kitchen" is an understatement when every American thinks that he or she alone can demand and condemn the White House without considering any other American's demands. Three-hundred-million Americans can't all have it their way. Again, it's like my preschooler who wants to play with his friends and his toys until the friends want to play with the same toys.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39772.html

Pawns and Shields

POSTED BY JHW22

It was just over a year ago when I first heard Sarah Palin refer to herself as a “Mama Grizzly”. Today it is her platform. Along with “pink elephants” (do these people not think to check the history of phrases like tea bagging and pink elephants before they use them) Sarah says that “Mama Grizzlies” -- aka pissed off mamas -- will be marching into power to take back America from the socialists she hates. Granted, she never presents better ideas, or any ideas for that matter. What she gives us is an emotional tug as her platform. Being a mom is and has always been her platform. I’m a mom of five -- one a “chosen” special needs baby and one a pregnant teen -- vote for me. She is a mom. She tackled jobs as mayor and governor as a mom to infants under the desk. Wow. What a symbol of feminism. A working mom. She is a mom. And not just any mom: she’s a mama grizzly who protects her young. She’s a mom.

So if that’s how she defines herself, why can’t we talk about her choices as a mom? Why, if we talk about her as a mom, does she twist it into we are talking about her kids? Tricky move, Palin. You see, she sets herself up as a mom so that we can’t challenge her without being accused of going after her family. It’s because she uses her children as pawns and shields.

The first time I recall the “Mama Grizzly” reference was when David Letterman made a wide-arching joke about Bristol Palin. At the time, Bristol was an adult making the circuit telling her story about getting pregnant while an unmarried teen. Everyone who heard the joke KNEW it was about Bristol. But Sarah Palin decided to warp the joke to mean it was about her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, and rape. So what she did was plant the idea of her young daughter getting raped in the minds of Americans. David Letterman didn’t make me think of Willow being raped, but Sarah did. Why? So she could have a public feud with a talk show host. That’s all. It wasn’t about young women and rape (just look into the Wasilla policy that charged women for their own rape kits while she was mayor). But because the issue was so touchy, we couldn’t make too big of a deal about Sarah’s use of Willow as a pawn and a shield without appearing as if we condoned the rape of girls.

Now, it’s true that every politician parades their families in front of cameras to show their family values. Palin is no different there. So having her children at the announcement of her as McCain’s running mate wasn’t a big deal. Trying to hide her daughter’s bump – not a big deal. But when internet sites started focusing on the Alaska scuttlebutt of Bristol’s pregnancy, what did Mama Grizzly do? She told the world her daughter was an unmarried teen. Considering what the right-wing media did to Jamie Lynn Spears (younger sister of Britney, who got pregnant as a teen and faced the wrath of Fox News) I would think a Mama Grizzly would have declined the McCain offer and considered what the campaign would do to her daughter. But no. She threw her daughter to the wolves! She MADE her daughter a target of gossip and judgment and at the same time criticized anyone who tried discussing the relevancy of this to a “no sex ed in schools” candidate. We couldn’t even mention Sarah’s hypocrisy without being accused of being mean to Bristol. Again, you can’t talk about Sarah as a mother without her twisting it into an assault on her pawn and shield, oops, I mean child.

And then there’s “retard”. And by that, I mean a word. The word retard means to slow or delay. It does not mean Downs Syndrome. It does not mean Trig Palin. I, personally, do not like to use the word “retard” as a pejorative, having worked with special needs kids and knowing the negative connotation behind its use. When Rahm Emanuel used the word, it had NOTHING to do with Trig Palin yet Sarah Palin made it all about her son. When people in her own party used it, she was silent. She politicized her son. She used him as a pawn and shield. And as of this posting all she has publicly done for kids with special needs is make some speeches and small donations. Is that the advocacy she promised? I'd like someone in the "lame-stream media" to ask her about it but no one will because of the pawn and shield game.

But let’s get to the real issue that everyone is afraid to discuss because she made it impossible to do so. The woman who made being a mother one of the top three things that qualifies her to speak for “real Americans” in whatever capacity she’s considering, has not been challenged on what may be THE choice that should define her. I am not talking about her “choice” to have a special needs baby despite the false claims on the right that a liberal would have aborted. I am talking about her “choice” to get on a plane and fly from Texas to Alaska, while in her 40’s, having had two miscarriages and in PRE-TERM LABOR (including leaking amniotic fluid and contractions per her interviews and her auto-biography starting on page 193 of Going Rogue) with a baby known to have Downs Syndrome, without being seen by a doctor.

She awoke early in the morning feeling weird, leaking and having contractions. She was worried enough to call her doctor all the way over in Alaska and pray for the unborn baby. Yet, she didn’t go to a hospital to make sure the baby was safe. Instead she gave a speech and got on a plane.

What kind of “Mama Grizzly” does that? But we aren’t allowed to talk about it because that’s somehow an affront to Trig. No. The affront to Trig was when she decided to risk his life for… for… for I don’t even know what.

So, now that she has released her “Mama Grizzly” video, void of solutions to our problems, can we NOW ask questions about her “choices” as a mom? NOW can we ask her how protective she was being on “The Wild Ride”? Or would that be one more attack on her child? NOW can we ask her why she chose to put her daughters in the national spotlight over controversial issues for political gain?

This isn’t about her kids and it never was. This is about Sarah Palin. And it’s time we reminded her of that and it’s time the media realized that and asked some damn questions.

We aren’t after the pawns and shields.

We’re after the Mama Grizzly.

Quote of the Day

We’ll never know how differently the politics would have played if Obama, instead of systematically echoing and giving credibility to all the arguments of the people who want to destroy him, had actually stood up for a different economic philosophy. But we do know how his actual strategy has worked, and it hasn’t been a success.

~ Paul Krugman on his problem with President Obama

Cartoon of the Day

Oops...

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are engaged, and they've shared the news on the cover of Us Weekly, seen below. They have not shared the news with Bristol's mom Sarah Palin, who has mocked Levi as "Ricky Hollywood" and poked at his "aspiring porn" career.

Bristol tell the glossy, "It is intimidating and scary just to think about what her reaction is going to be. Hopefully she will jump on board."

Uh... I don't know if Mama Grizzly is going to be so pleased. And all I can say is... HAAHAHAHAAHAAHAAAAAA!!!

ADDING... There are those who think this is one small step in the Rehabilitation of Sarah Palin's Image for an eventual run in 2012. I don't necessarily doubt that, but one has to be a complete moron not to see right through it. How can Sarah be happy for her daughter if she's completely trashed Bristol's future husband in the public eye nonstop? But then again, judging by Sarah's following, there are plenty of morons out there to be had.

Limbaugh Just Can't Help Himself

Rush just can't hide the fact that he's a racist scumbag. Even in speaking of the death Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, he makes it about race.



I suppose to Limbaugh, paying an athlete to play for your team is some sort of redistribution of wealth... unless the athlete is white, of course.

(H/T Jason Linkins)

Quote of the Day

"Laura Ingraham is a highly successful political pundit, radio host, author and public speaker, but she's never said anything funny in her life. I'm not saying that as a knock. She also hasn't free styled a rap or yodeled or done birdcalls. It's simply not part of her act. Which is to be a horribly angry hurt unpleasant person.

She radiates wounded joylessness and her voice makes animals miscarry."

~ Chris Kelly wondering about Ingraham's decision to write her "parody" book, The Obama Diaries.

Jeff Sessions Is A Douche

Ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had asked for the delay on behalf of committee Republicans, who claimed they needed the extra week to read through Kagan’s written responses to their questions.

...[Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick] Leahy said he would defend Sessions’ right to request the delays, but noted that he did not want Republicans to further delay votes on the nominees.

George Steinbrenner Dies at 80

NY TIMES: George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning. He was 80 and lived in Tampa, Fla.

Batshit Brewer's Beheading Bull

How do these people actually make it to elected office?

Arizona Governor and Immigration fear monger Jan Brewer has gone so far off the deep end, I suppose it doesn't matter to her that anything that she says, like law enforcement finding decapitated bodies in the desert, or that most illegal immigrants who cross the border are drug mules, or Phoenix having the 2nd highest kidnapping rate in the world, or the majority of law enforcement officers are killed by illegal immigrants, can be researched and found to be entirely false.

Two months ago, the Arizona Republic published an exhaustive report that found that, according to statistics from the FBI and Arizona police agencies, crime in Arizona border towns has been "essentially flat for the past decade.

...FBI statistics show violent crime rates in all of the border states are lower than they were a decade ago -- yet Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reports that the violence is "the worst I have ever seen."

Leave it to the Maverick to get in on the act.

Bob Sheppard Dies at 99

NY TIMES: Bob Sheppard, whose elegant intonation as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium for more than half a century personified the image of Yankees grandeur, died Sunday at his home in Baldwin, on Long Island. He was 99.