Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Headlines - Tuesday

 
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Armistice Day
 
That was the original name for today, a day of remembrance to mark the day that the guns of the First World War fell silent: 11 AM, November 11, 1918. The name was changed after the Second World War to Veterans Day.

Armistice Day was not meant to be a day of retail sales.
 
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The US Secret Service has blamed Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin for the death threats against president-elect Barack Obama.

According to the agents, Palin's repeated questioning of Obama's patriotism sparked off the death threats from white supremacists.

According to The Telegraph of London, Palin attracted criticism for accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the 1960s radical William Ayers.

http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143998965&cid=4

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Schools not allowing students to mention Obama

PUCKETT, MS (WLBT) - More complaints from parents who say school officials will not allow students to talk about President-Elect Barack Obama.

Melissa Hayes says teachers at Puckett Attendance Center told her daughters they could not talk about Obama in class or in the hallways.

Her daughters, 15 and 18, told Hayes the principal says students can only mention Obama in history class Hayes says she called the school district to find out why, but did not receive any answers.

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How bad must the G.O.P. feel right about now? It portrayed Obama as a socialist, a communist, a Muslin, and a friend of terrorists, and the majority of American voters said, "Y'know, we're O.K. with that, as long as he's not a Republican."

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Wow. Morning tv is for adults only! Scarborough drops the F bomb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SJUwn6eSNo&eurl=http://www.allhatnocattle.net/11-10-08_republican_sign.htm

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How to do an economic stimulus plan

Okay, so here's the deal. Factory output plummeting? Unemployment going through the roof? What to do, what to do...

Well, that's simple: You do the stimulus plan that was just announced. You pour hundreds of billions of dollars into trains, planes, and subway construction and in other public works projects. You build hundreds of schools, thousands of miles of new highways, and employ millions of people building infrastructure. You build massive numbers of new affordable housing complexes, new hospitals, and new clinics. This is a stimulus plan that can, and will, work, employing people doing real things that add to the economy (as vs. just giving people money to sit on their asses) .

The only problem: It's being done by China, not by the United States. The Chinese government is spending the equivalent of 7% of their GDP to stimulate their economy, far more than any other country has attempted.

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h/t Tim - Deep Secrets of the Daily Show: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/secrets-of-the-daily-show/?ei=5070&emc=eta1

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The $700B bailout just became a $2.7 trillion dollar theft: http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2008/11/the-700b-bail-out-just-became-a-27trillion-theft.html

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A break from warm and fuzzy: http://www.first-draft.com/2008/11/a-break-from-wa.html

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Obama_bush

I can't believe Obama is already sitting down with an unpopular, aggressive world leader without preconditions. - DG at Talking Points Memo.

Heckuva job, W

Most unpopular evah:

On the day that President-elect Barack Obama is visiting the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first sought more than six decades ago.

Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how President Bush is handling his job.

That's an all-time high in CNN polling and in Gallup polling dating back to World War II.

"No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times so far this year," says CNN polling director Keating Holland. "That means that Bush is now more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned from office during Watergate with a 66 percent disapproval rating."

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4,193 soldiers killed in Iraq; 626 in Afghanistan.

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I wonder what they're talking about on the Free Republic? A couple of comments on redecorating the White House: 

 
Can you see the WH if Michelle gets there???? I can picture the old butter urn in the kitchen with her sitting there on an old wooden chair and a scarf around her head churning away.....a clothes line down the entrance hall with fresh washed clothes pinned to the line.....the two girls are out the Rose Garden making mud pies and Obama out the front door feeding the chickens, goats and pigs....Oh yeah, I forgot Muslims dont eat pork do they?
 
Leopard skin wallpaper and a Black Velvet Black Elvis. The Obama's don't celebrate Christmas like all "good muslims".
 
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When monks attack: Christian monks have massive brawl at holy site: 
 
This could be a new Fox Special "When Monks Attack." As Jews and Muslims fight at the new Museum of Tolerance, Christian monks were having an actual brawl at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Sunday. Monks from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations were preparing for a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City when they went at each other like Templar Knights.

Story and here and here.

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The walking on water shall commence at any moment now

Compared to the last eight years of never-ending idiocy, seeing things change this fast is practically miraculous: According to McCain, Palin, Joe Lieberman and Joe the Plumber, the election of Barack Obama was supposed to "embolden our enemies", especially Iran. Well, according to the Jerusalem Post, it isn't really working out that way.
 
Despite this message, the conservative hard-line camp in Iran is worried about overwhelming enthusiasm and support for the US that Obama's election has created around the world. A popular American president who talks about peace and wants to negotiate with Iran would take away justification for leading the anti-American front in the Middle East. Furthermore, increased international support and credibility for the US represents a more serious challenge to Iran, especially if the international community initiates new sanctions against Tehran. All this while oil prices are falling. This is why efforts are already under way in the Iranian press to tarnish Obama's image.

Apparently, despite our dearly deluded rabid right's certainty that Obama is the antichrist, he doesn't make a convincing poster boy for the Great Satan.

So. Our standing in the world turned 180 degrees from abysmal to awesome literally overnight. What other miracles would President-Elect Obama care to perform today? Well there's this:

Sweet sanity at last

With an indescribable relief and gratitude that ethical adults were elected last week I see that the International Herald Tribune reports this morning that the Obama Administration plans to close Guantanamo Bay quickly next year.

This is why electing a constitutional law professor is a precious element for the country that was far too often overlooked in the campaign. Guantanamo Bay was and is a horror story of gross disdain for the rule of the law, there can never be a parallel system. This shame upon America cannot be closed soon enough.

Naomi Wolf has always made the vivid point that Guantanamo was the stepping stone to total American judicial authoritarianism; set up a hazy, confusing parallel penal system and inevitably it becomes filled with political opponents, not criminals.

I never could decide how seriously to take her warning or if it were really possible for a Republican administration to start locking up, say, ACORN organizers in Cuba. But it was always extremely disquieting to ever consider the question, and it's simply outrageous the question ever existed at all. I'm profoundly grateful American adults are soon to be in charge, thank you, thank you so much, President-elect Obama.

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New Challenges for Sarah Palin

Today the Anchorage Daily News lays out seven challenges that face Governor Palen as she goes home. Some result from her campaign style, others from the relentless media investigation and others because the ground has changed in Alaska while she was gone.

Three particular challenges that will make her life tougher are:

  • Oil revenues in Alaska are falling which means that Sarah is going to have to start making some tough choices. After all, it's easy to be popular when you have lots of money to spare. Now she gets to find out how the rest of the nation lives when the times are tight.
  • A lot of the information about how Sarah used the taxpayer dollars to fund her lifestyle were discovered by outside investigators. Now the question is does she owe taxes on the money she used? And will Alaskans be as happy to fund the lifestyle she once had?
  • As Governor of Alaska, she'll need to look to the Obama administration for some of their help in reaching some of her goals. The fact that her campaign rhetoric helped ante up the death threats against Obama probably won't help much.

And I suspect that one other area that will continue to get more scrutiny is the role of the dominionists in her life and career and what that would mean to our constitution and our country if they succeed in getting her elected to national office.

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This is what a mandate looks like: http://mydd.com/story/2008/11/10/181227/99

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The CRA - the best law you've never heard of

Obama may need to send former Congressman Bill Archer a Christmas card this year – it should read "thanks to you and yours for helping me reverse Bush's last-minute regulations." Archer, you see, sponsored a little known 1996 law that could soon become Obama's new best friend.

As you probably know, the Bush administration is implementing a series of "midnight rules" before they leave town. And as Hilzoy noted earlier, the incoming Obama administration is examining ways to reverse these and other Bush rules. Interestingly enough, an obscure Gingrich-era law called the "Congressional Review Act of 1996" (CRA) could help the Dems prevent these rules from taking effect. It's been used just once - by the Bush administration to overturn last-minute Clinton ergonomics regulations. But maybe it's time to dust it off and take it for a spin. http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/11/the-cra----the.html#more

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The Mormon Church owns a for-profit corporate empire worth at least $11 billion: http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/11/10/mormon-church-owns-radio-stations-in-8-markets/#more-6141

And they have a plan to convert every single one of you to Mormonism on your death: From AP

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Economists predict increased unemployment for 2009: It is going to get worse for a while before it gets better.

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Sarah Palin's father says we just might never see the return of all of the $150,000 in clothes Sarah Palin bought to better look the part of Regular Guy.

Her father, Chuck Heath, said Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party.

"She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out," Heath said. "That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for. Nothing goes right back to normal."

Um, why was the RNC or the McCain campaign or whomever buying the kids underwear? It's one thing to argue that she needs to look nice on camera and at campaign events (though not the tune of $150,000), but, um, who exactly did they need to impress with Palin's kids' underwear?

And oh yeah, Palin is also now saying it's George Bush's fault that she lost. Yeah, couldn't be that you're a blithering idiot. 

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Patriotism is sheltering your income to avoid paying taxes while receiving $700 billion in handouts from the middle class. Mind you, these are the same folks who are already padding their income with late fees, NSF charges, overlimit fees, and interest rates that make the mafia blush. http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=13653

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Almost four years ago today, Colin Powell presented some dodgy intelligence suggesting Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons. Powell's announcement had all the trappings of Bush propaganda: sketchy exiles, the pre-emption of IAEA counter-evidence, technical specs that make a known civilian application look like a nuclear weapon, and, of course, Powell himself.

Does it surprise you to learn, via Juan Cole, that that intelligence may well have been forged?

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.

The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.

Nope, it doesn't surprise me either.

The Bush Regime is a case study in what happens when dimwits who think they're living in a Robert Ludlum novel get their hands on the reins of power. They're running around playing super secret agent, fabricating evidence because it fits a narrative and reality doesn't. They turned the CIA and the Justice Department into an episode of 24, complete with torture, because they love to be part of a storyline wherein they're the big, tough heroes breaking heads and breaking rules to "get the job done." The damage they've done to this country so that they could live their little fantasies is apalling.

And it's not shocking anymore. The only time I'm shocked now is when Bush does something semi-decent. I can't tell you how angry that makes me, and how glad I am that we voted for four years of competent leadership rather than four more years of neocon playacting.

There's only two months left, but I imagine we're going to see a lot more stories of Bush's forged evidence, incompetence, and cronyism.

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(VIDEO) Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Proposition 8. Transcript here.

And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Bravo.

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U.S. District Court Judge Henry Kennedy ruled today that two private groups — CREW and the National Security Archive — may continue to pursue their case against the Bush White House to recover millions of possibly missing electronic messages. "The Bush administration had argued that the courts did not have the power to order the White House to retrieve any missing e-mails."

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In an interview with Fox's Greta van Susteren, Palin lashed out at bloggers "sitting in their parents' basement, wearing their pajamas" for some of the questions that were raised about her record and credibility.

Ummm, Sarah? It was a McCain staffer that said those things. He admitted it yesterday.

Palin refused to say whether she was planning a run for the White House in 2012, but the devoutly faithful governor said she would wait for a sign from God, and that she is confident God would show the way to the White House.

Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands - this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.

October 22, 2008 - Palin to James Dobson:

"....And it also strengthens my faith, because I'm going to know, at the end of the day, putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on Nov. 4. So I'm not discouraged at all."

Random fact: the votes just keep adding up: CNN already has Obama over 66 million.

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Freepers to boycott Fox Link

Excerpt:
What's the purpose behind these attacks on Sarah Palin from Fox News? It's not a secret that Rupert Murdoch donated to Hilary's campaign. It's not a secret that 81% of Fox News reporters and employees donate money to the Democratic party - that's a crazy high number for an allegedly conservative TV channel. It's no secret to the gay community that Shepard Smith is 'one' of them. It's no secret that Fox News has really hot chicks and I'm tuning in just to look at them! We're on our own as conservatives and we need to be prepared for the next couple of years.  

Ha ha. I love it when Fascist dogs go after each other.

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