Okie Sings the Blues

Sam Stein: McCain and sour grapes

2009-02-16T05:34:00.002-06:00

Democrats are growing increasingly frustrated with the brash political attacks Sen. John McCain has launched against Barack Obama in the weeks since the new president took office. No one expected the Arizona Republican to be a legislative ally for this administration. But it was widely assumed that Obama's overtures to McCain in the weeks after the election would dull some of the hard feelings between the two. Now, they are realizing, it has not.

"He is bitter and really angry," Bob Shrum said of McCain in an interview on Friday. "He is angry at the press, which he thinks is unfair. He is angry at Obama and angry at the voters. He has gone from being an angry old candidate to being an angry old defeated candidate."

Indeed, during the debate over the economic stimulus package it was McCain, as often as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spearheaded the opposition. The Arizona Republican denounced the proposal as pure pork on the Senate floor and introduced an alternative measure comprised nearly entirely of tax cuts.

On Sunday, McCain wouldn't let the fight die, even with the legislation through Congress. Appearing on CNN, he described the $787 billion measure as "generational theft" and said that the bill's authors should "start over now and sit down together."

Meanwhile, appearing on ABC's This Week, Sen. Lindsey Graham -- McCain's chief ally in the Senate -- said of the process by which the stimulus was forged: "If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country is screwed."

That two Republicans Senators who consider themselves prudent compromisers would forcefully condemn the president's top legislative priority is noteworthy in and of itself. That it comes after President Obama made overt gestures of reconciliation to both McCain and Graham raises questions as to just how long it will take for this era of post-partisanship to arrive.

Not to mention that, as other observers pointed out, McCain isn't being entirely consistent.

"During the Senate debate, 36 of the Senate Republicans voted for an alternative that would have cut taxes over the next decade by $2.5 trillion, [and] reduced the top marginal race to 25 percent," said the Atlantic's Ron Brownstein on "Meet the Press." "For John McCain -- who voted for that alternative of a $2.5 trillion tax cut over the next decade -- to talk about generational theft, I mean, pot meet kettle."

Love in the White House

2009-02-14T07:11:00.007-06:00

Gay couples protest all over the US

2009-02-13T05:40:00.002-06:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Same-sex couples seeking to wed showed up at marriage license counters nationwide Thursday to highlight a right they don't have in 48 states, part of an annual protest that took on renewed urgency given recent election setbacks.

In San Francisco, where same-sex marriage was legal for nearly five months last year before California voters approved a ban, many couples who came to City Hall had already tied the knot but wanted to express their gratitude and to show they're still part of the fight.

"All of our marriages are under the cloud of Proposition 8," said Stuart Gaffney, 45, referring to California's ballot initiative banning gay marriage. "Equality is an unfinished business in California."

In Las Vegas, couples gathered outside the downtown marriage bureau with signs that read "Don't hate my love" and "No laws on love." In New York, activists wore signs that said "Just Not Married." They were turned away empty-handed in both places when they asked for marriage licenses.

"We could get married in Massachusetts or Connecticut, but we'll wait a little and see what happens in New York," Matt Flanders, 37, of Brooklyn, said after he and his partner, Will Jennings, 29, participated in the protest in Manhattan. "It's a matter of principle. This is our home, and we should be able to get married where we live, where our friends are."

The protests around Valentine's Day, part of the 12th annual Freedom to Marry Day, were considered especially important this year because they come after the November passage of Proposition 8. The measure has prompted protests, lawsuits and questions about the direction of the gay rights movement.

"A lot of people feel a sense of determination and regret over having been too complacent or quiet before, so there is a commitment to, `Never again, we have to take action,'" said Evan Wolfson, a civil rights lawyer who conceived Freedom to Marry Day. "In that sense, California was a terrific energizer and wake-up call."

Currently, gay marriage is legal only in Massachusetts and Connecticut, while 30 states have gay marriage bans in their constitutions. Gay rights activists are pressing lawmakers in New Jersey, New York and Vermont to take up bills that would legalize same-sex marriage in those states.

Jennifer Pizer, director of the marriage project at gay rights legal group Lambda Legal, said the disappointing outcome of the California election has created momentum in other parts of the country.

Hawaii's House of Representatives, for example, voted 33-17 Thursday to allow same-sex civil unions. The legislation now goes before the state's Senate Judiciary Committee, where the vote is split among six senators, with one undecided. A tie vote would kill the civil union measure for the year.

In Utah, where a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004 prohibits same-sex unions, five gay and lesbian couples applied for marriage licenses in Salt Lake City on Thursday. County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said she could recall only one other gay couple asking to get married over the last 18 years.

In Maine and Minnesota on Thursday, dozens of proponents of gay marriage gathered outside the statehouses to lobby for bills that would legalize same-sex marriage in those states. Under a black and white banner that read "Legalize Love," Minnesota lawmakers vowed to push the bill as far as they can.

State Sen. Scott Dibble, a Minneapolis Democrat who is one of the few openly gay members of the Legislature, said the country's economic woes showed the need for couples to support each other. But gay couples can't get many of the benefits of marriage that might make things easier, he said.

"Those with strong families more than anyone are going to be able to rely on each other," Dibble said. "So why does our own government try to stop that from happening? Why does our own government try to stop us from trying to take care of each other?"

Troy Smith, 41, and his partner of six years, Justin Gibson, 26, were among the 15 couples waiting with tourists outside the marriage bureau in downtown Las Vegas. Smith, a coordinator at a local wedding chapel, said he's constantly faced with the reality of Nevada's constitutional ban on gay marriage.

"I sell it every day, but I can't buy it myself," he said, adding that he often sees couples rushing to the altar after knowing each other for hours. "It just about breaks my heart. It's not fair."

The California Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments next month on whether to uphold Proposition 8 and on the validity of the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in the state between June and November. The court could render a decision as early as June.

Obama "faith based" office presents wider agenda, more inclusive

2009-02-05T14:10:00.002-06:00

WASHINGTON – Declaring that "there is a force for good greater than government," President Barack Obama on Thursday established a White House office of faith-based initiatives with a broader mission than the one overseen by his Republican predecessor.

Obama said the new office, which he created by executive order, would reach out to organizations that provide help "no matter their religious or political beliefs."

Obama said the office would work with nonprofit organizations "both secular and faith-based" and would help them determine how to make a bigger impact in their cities, learn their obligations under the law and cut through government red tape.

In a time of economic crisis, the president said, it was important for the government to help distressed Americans but added that "the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone."

Obama said the top priority of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be "making community groups an integral part of our economy recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete."

To lead the office, Obama appointed Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who headed religious outreach for Obama's Senate office and his presidential campaign. He also named 25 religious and secular leaders to a new advisory board.

"The big picture is that President Obama believes faith-based and smaller secular neighborhood organizations can play a role in American renewal. They can work with the federal government to address big problems," DuBois said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We're also going to make sure we have a keener eye toward the separation of church and state."

Obama said the office would also work to reach out overseas "to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world."

Obama's order expanded and redefined a similar office established by President George W. Bush. Focused primarily on faith-based initiatives, the Bush office sparked constitutional questions about whether the separation of church and state would be preserved, particularly if groups receiving tax dollars sought to hire on the basis of religion.

Before signing the order at the White House, Obama told the annual National Prayer Breakfast that the program would not show favoritism to any religious group and would adhere to a strict separation of church and state.

Addressing the gathering of lawmakers, dignitaries and world leaders, Obama spoke of how faith has often been a divisive tool, responsible for war and prejudice. But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate."

"There is no god who condones taking the life of an innocent human being," he said, and all religions teach people to love and care for one another. That is the common ground underlying the faith-based office, he said.

In personal terms, Obama talked about the role of faith in his life, from his Muslim-born father and a mother skeptical of organized religion to his own embrace of Christianity as a young man.

"In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding," he said. "This is my hope. This is my prayer."

Dogged throughout the presidential campaign by rumors that he was a Muslim, Obama described his background in a household that wasn't religious.

"I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done," he said.

Obama's advisers want to be certain tax dollars sent to the faith-based social service groups are used for secular purposes, such as feeding the hungry or housing the homeless, and not for religious evangelism. The administration doesn't want to be perceived as managing the groups yet seeks transparency and accountability.

Obama pledged during the campaign to allow taxpayer-funded religious institutions to hire and fire based on religion — but only for the activities run on private funding.

Obama on Thursday asked White House lawyers and the Justice Department to write a policy that would allow that.

"There is a pretty clear lack of legal clarity and data in this area. This mechanism allows us to explore those areas on a case-by-case basis and find out exactly where things are," DuBois said.

One question is whether the faith-based office will issue grants under the Bush rules while the hiring policy is worked out.

Exxon Mobil sets record profits for 2008

2009-01-30T13:04:00.002-06:00

They set record profits while we paid record prices. What's up with that?

HOUSTON – Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.

The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.

The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near an unheard of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen roughly 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis.

In the fourth quarter alone crude tumbled 60 percent, prompting spending and job cuts in an industry that was reporting robust, often record, profits as recently as last summer.

With piles of cash and diversified operations, the majors like Exxon Mobil have fared better than many smaller oil and gas companies, but Friday's results show no one is completely insulated from the ongoing malaise.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon said net income slid sharply to $7.8 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the October-December period. That compared with $11.7 billion, or $2.13 a share, in the same period a year ago, when Exxon set a U.S. record for quarterly profit. It has since topped that mark twice, first in last year's second quarter and then with earnings of $14.83 billion in the third quarter.

Revenue in the most-recent quarter fell 27 percent to $84.7 billion.

Both the per-share and revenue results topped Wall Street forecasts. On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.45 a share in the latest quarter on revenue of $69.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares rose $1.52, or 2 percent, to $78.52 in early trading.

The nation's second largest oil company, Chevron Corp., reported profits of $4.9 billion for the fourth quarter, though revenues slid 26 percent with oil prices in sharp decline.

It earned $2.44 per share in the three months ended Dec. 31. Like Exxon, Chevron easily beat expectations of analysts, who were looking for profits of $1.81 per share.

The industry went into retrenchment toward the end of the year with demand falling.

As expected, Exxon Mobil's bottom line took a beating from its exploration and production, or upstream, arm, where net income fell 31 percent to $5.6 billion. The culprit: lower crude prices, which the company said decreased earnings by $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

The company, which produces about 3 percent of the world's oil, said overall output fell 3 percent in the most-recent period, a troubling trend in previous quarters. Exxon, which generates more than two-thirds of its earnings from oil and gas production, said production-sharing contracts and OPEC quotas contributed to its lower output.

Results were better at its refining and marketing unit, where earnings rose 6 percent to $2.4 billion as higher margins overcame costs related to last summer's hurricanes and other factors.

The company's chemical division also took a hit, posting net income of $155 million versus $1.1 billion a year ago. Results were hurt by lower volumes and margins and hurricane-repair costs.

Exxon Mobil said it bought 119 million shares of its common stock in the quarter at a cost of $8.8 billion. Roughly $8 billion of that amount was dedicated to reducing the number of shares outstanding; the balance was used to offset shares issued as part of the company's benefit plans.

Exxon said it spent $26.1 billion on capital and exploration projects last year, up 25 percent from 2007. Its earnings release provided no information about its planned spending for 2009.

For the full year, Exxon Mobil's massive profit amounted to $8.69 a share, versus $7.28 a share a year ago.

Obama calls $18 Billion in Wall Street Bonuses "Shameful"

2009-01-29T16:19:00.003-06:00

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from taxpayers. "It is shameful," Obama said from the Oval Office. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility."

The president's comments, made with new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side, came in swift response to a report that employees of the New York financial world garnered an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The figure, from the New York state comptroller, drew prominent news coverage.

Yet Obama's stand also came just one day after he surrounded himself with well-paid chief executives at the White House. He had pulled in those business leaders and hailed them for being on the "front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now."

The president said the public dislikes the idea of helping the financial sector dig out of a hole, only to see it get bigger because of lavish spending. The comptroller's report found that Wall Street bonuses were down 44 percent, but still at about the same level as they were during the boom time of 2004.

Obama said he and Geithner will speak directly to Wall Street leaders about the bonuses, which threaten to undermine public support for more government intervention as the economy keeps reeling.

The House just approved an economic stimulus plan that would cost taxpayers more than $800 billion; the Senate is considering its own version.

Separately, Congress also passed a $700 billion plan last year to shore up the financial sector, one that drew howls of criticism about a lack of transparency.

"We're going to be having conversations as this process moves forward directly with these folks on Wall Street to underscore that they have to start acting in a more responsible fashion if we are to, together, get this economy rolling again," Obama said.

"There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses," Obama said. "Now is not that time."

Obama said Geithner has already had to step in to stop one company from taking delivery of a new corporate jet it planned to buy even after receiving billions of dollars of support from the government. That bank, Citigroup, canceled the deal earlier this week.

Obama's strong words overshadowed the other part of his message, that he wants to roll out, in the coming weeks, new plans to regulate Wall Street and get more credit flowing to consumers again. The president considers such steps to work in tandem with the economic stimulus measures unfolding in Congress.

One idea under consideration by the Obama administration is the creation of a "bad bank" that could take over the soured debt, like defaulting mortgages, that have corroded the balance sheets of banks and helped choke off lending. The president did not talk about that proposal or any others.

Obama tells Citigroup to "fix it"

2009-01-27T11:08:00.003-06:00

The high-flying execs at Citigroup caved under pressure from President Obama and decided today to abandon plans for a luxurious new $50 million corporate jet from France.
The bank used TARP funds to purchase a new corporate jet for executives.

The decision came 24 hours after the banking giant, which was rescued by a $45 billion taxpayer lifeline, defended buying the state-of-the-art Dassault Falcon 7X -- one of nine to be flying in U.S. skies -- as a smart business deal.

The jet, the epitome of corporate prestige and privilege, can carry 12 passengers in elegant comfort.

ABC News has learned that on Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroup about the company's new $50 million corporate jet and told execs to "fix it."

Earlier on Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said made it clear ABC News asked him about the jet that the president disapproved of the deal.

"The president said this during the transition, as it related to the auto companies using private jets: [He] doesn't believe that's the best use of money at this point," Gibbs said.

The company today issued a statement saying, "We have no intent to take delivery of any new aircraft."

Citigroup had argued it was selling two of its four other planes to pay for this one, that the new jet would be more efficient and, besides, it had already signed a contract for the jet. Breaking that deal would cost the bank millions in penalties.

The Citigroup air fleet will now shrink from four jets and a helicopter to two planes.

Citigroup was apparently not deterred from shopping for a new jet despite the outrage that erupted when Detroit's auto barons used private jets to fly into Washington to plead for handouts. The giant carmakers later got rid of their jets after being granted a $17 billion financial lifeline in taxpayer cash.

And this week, ousted Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain said he would personally cough up the $1 million he spent on remodeling his office after his brokerage was rescued with billions in taxpayer cash.

Why we love the Obamas

2009-01-26T06:01:00.002-06:00

'nuff said.

Obama to reverse abortion policies

2009-01-23T13:20:00.002-06:00

WASHINGTON – In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president. Known as the "Mexico City policy," the ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since GOP President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

The policy bans U.S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of U.S. Agency for International Development funds, from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion. It is also known as the "global gag rule," because it prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that lobby to legalize abortion or promote it as a family planning method.

The Democratic official and senior U.S. official who disclosed the plans did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt Obama's announcement.

Obama was expected to sign the executive order at a low-key event, one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

The move was not a surprise as both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the gag rule during the presidential campaign. Clinton is to visit the U.S. Agency for International Development, through which much U.S. foreign aid is disbursed, later on Friday.

Obama has spent his first days in office systematically signing executive orders reversing Bush administration policies on issues ranging from foreign policy to government operations. But, save for ending the ban, Obama has largely refrained from wading into ideological issues, perhaps to avoid being tagged a traditional partisan from the outset after his campaign promises to change "business as usual" in the often partisan-gridlocked capital.

Rather, Obama has chosen to focus initially on issues in which there is consensus across the political spectrum and support from the public, such as closing the prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to making government documents more accessible.

In a move related to the lifting of the abortion ban, Obama also is expected to restore funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) at his earliest opportunity, probably in the next budget. Both he and Clinton made this a campaign issue.

The Bush administration had barred U.S. money from going to the fund, contending that work in China supported a Chinese family planning policy of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. UNFPA has vehemently denied that it does.

Organizations that had pressed Obama to make the abortion-ban change were jubilant.

"Women's health has been severely impacted by the cutoff of assistance. President Obama's actions will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, abortions and women dying from high-risk pregnancies because they don't have access to family planning," said Tod Preston, a spokesman for Population Action International, an advocacy group.

Anti-abortion groups criticized the move.

"President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Sophie Keller: 5 easy ways to serve your country

2009-01-22T05:53:00.002-06:00

Obama has the rare opportunity as a President to make a huge difference to his country and to the world and even though the task is daunting, he is also very lucky to be given this gift. However, you don't need to be President to make a difference. It is a matter of recognizing how you already serve in your own life and how with very little effort you can serve more. Remember as well, that when you make a difference to one person's life it invariably reverberates out to the people that they come in to contact with. So you might actually be underestimating what a difference you already make and how many people are affected by your positive actions.

1. Your profession. It is easy to think that if someone is a priest, therapist, teacher, soldier or doctor (etc) that they are the only people who serve. But actually it doesn't matter what you do for a living, if you understand the service that you are giving to others. You could be a shop assistant, a plumber, a chef or a builder and you are making a difference with your chosen profession. If you are a cleaner, you are helping someone feel relaxed, clear headed and happy in a tidy home. If you are a conscious chef you are helping nourish others with food. Much of it depends, not on what you do for a living, but the intention behind what you do, why you are doing it and the care you put in.

2. Be vocal. You can touch people's lives all the time, without any effort just by giving compliments. It's so easy to think something positive about someone and not express it. But it's no good to keep your positive thoughts inside; it's so much better to give them away. So, if you come in to contact with someone who has a great color shirt on that goes well with their eyes, tell them. If you think a shop assistant has been exceptionally helpful, let them know. If a work colleague has come up with a brilliant idea, express that. It is so easy to do it and you will, without doubt, make their day.

3. Listen authentically. When someone is speaking, listen. You have two ears and one mouth and being fully present for another person means aiming to understand what they are saying fully and completely. It is very easy to pretend you are listening or just hear part of what they are saying while your mind drifts somewhere else. And it is just as easy to interpret what you think the other person is saying with your own filters. But none of these ways are very giving. If you are fully present for the other person and aim to understand what they are really saying, then and only then, are you serving them.

4. Ways of giving. In our society there is so much emphasis on the material and that being recognized as the ultimate gift. Whereas many people can't necessarily afford to give materially but have other ways in which they are of service. They can be emotional, mental and spiritual and there is an enormous value in all of those. Those gifts should not be underestimated and not considered less important than giving trinkets. The bottom line is to give in the way that you can, with the gifts you have.

5. Be open. Whatever is going on in the country, and whatever inheritance Obama has if he keeps communicating in an open and honest fashion and listening to the citizens of America then he will be popular. In the same way, if you can be open and honest with others in your own life and hold no internal resentment towards anyone then you will be serving those around you.

If you walk through your life with the intention of being of service with whatever you are doing, then your life will have more meaning. Often it is a matter of finding the element of service in your actions and coming from that place. This will help you appreciate yourself so much more and how you already give where you didn't think you did or show you how, by making a few small adjustments, you can give so much more. It is not about changing the world single handedly, it is about touching one person's life at a time and in turn they will touch others.

Slimeball of the week: George Walker Bush

2009-01-21T07:14:00.003-06:00

I was a little shocked by the booing at first, but then I realized that this man and his administration have literally battered, abused, and violated the people of this great nation, and have broken our trust and his oath to defend and protect our Constitution. If a "booing" at his last public appearance as President is all he gets out of this, I think that he's been let off pretty easy.

I recall a king in France a couple of hundred years ago who got his head cut off for similar offenses.

An Historic Day

2009-01-21T06:01:00.000-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States

2009-01-20T18:04:00.003-06:00

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. ~President Barack Obama, Inaugural address, January 20th, 2009

It better be good!

2009-01-20T06:54:00.003-06:00

As the final preparations are made for his historic Inauguration on Tuesday, pressure is mounting for President-elect Barack Obama-- including from his own children. Speaking to the Washington Post, Obama gives an account of his family "field trip" to the Lincoln Memorial where there is an inscribed copy of the 16th President's famous Second Inaugural speech. At this point, Obama's 7 year-old daughter Sasha asked her father if he would be giving a similar speech. Obama describes the interaction to the Post:

"And I said, 'Well, actually, that's a short version, but yeah, I will,' " Obama recalled. "And then Malia says, 'First African American president -- it better be good.' "So I just want you to know the pressures I'm under here from my children.

The family's "field trip" was a symbolic gesture to Lincoln, to whom Obama has frequently been compared. Obama's children clearly have equally or even higher expectations of their father. This sets them somewhat apart from their mother, who throughout the campaign has insisted that her husband is merely human. Ta-Nahisi Coates, in the January/February Atlantic delves into this quirk extensively, explaining why Michelle Obama was initially viewed as an "Angry Black Woman" during the campaign and why that really isn't the case at all. The article gives an enlightening account of the value the Obamas place on family. Coates quotes Michelle Obama's brother Craig Robinson:

"We had a very fortunate upbringing," says Obama's brother, Craig Robinson. "It was filled with good times. We were like every other family. We had love and discipline. We had caring parents ... It wasn't unusual at all. It wasn't that everyone had both parents in the house, but it certainly wasn't like it is now, where you find single-parent families everywhere. Folks went to work, people were excited to get good grades ... People would laugh about folks finding out you were getting in trouble. People had mothers at home. So if someone broke a window, you always found out about it. You had a secondary line of defense."

That the incoming President will have such a solid familial foundation (his mother-in-law will even be residing with them in the White House) should only bolster his performance as the leader of the free world. It is good to know that Obama's family can be both comforting and demanding.

Obama to joyous crowd: "Anything is possible"

2009-01-19T05:42:00.001-06:00

WASHINGTON — Two days from the White House, President-elect Barack Obama joined a vast throng Sunday at a joyous pre-inauguration celebration staged among marble monuments to past heroes. "Anything is possible in America," declared the man who will confront economic crisis and two wars when he takes office.

"Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure _ that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," the president-elect said at the conclusion of a musical extravaganza that featured U2, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and a host of other stars.

Obama and his family held the seats of honor at the event, and a crowd of tens of thousands spilled from the base of the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument several blocks away in the cold, gray afternoon of mid-January.

It was the high point of a full day of pre-inaugural events that included a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and a morning church service where children recalled the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Obama's motorcade drew ever-larger crowds as the day wore on and he and his wife, Michelle, and their children Sasha and Malia crisscrossed the city.

"Just another typical Sunday," deadpanned the Rev. Derrick Harkins, pastor at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, where the soon-to-be first family prayed.

Of course it was anything but _ a run-up, in fact, to the first inauguration of an African-American president in a nation founded by slave-owners.

Obama's aides said he was readying an inaugural address that would stress twin themes of responsibility and accountability, and they predicted he would devote his first week in office to economic recovery, setting in motion a 16-month troop withdrawal from Iraq and decreeing a code of ethics for his administration.

With the economy weak and growing weaker, banks in trouble and joblessness rising, Obama's team was careful to warn against any expectation that he would be a miracle worker once in office. "I think it's fair to say that it's going to take not months but years to really turn this around," said David Axelrod, a political strategist expected to have White House space mere paces from the Oval Office.

Obama said as much in his own brief remarks. "I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many," he said.

He stood alone at the base of the steps before the statue of a seated Lincoln looking out at a crowd every bit as large as the one King addressed a generation earlier in his "I have a dream" speech that was a defining moment of the civil rights era.

An even larger audience is forecast for the inauguration outside the Capitol on Tuesday, with estimates running into the millions. Agencies in charge of logistics and security said they would enforce a ban on personal auto traffic across the Potomac River bridges from Virginia into Washington and seal off a large portion of the downtown area. Access to buildings along the Inaugural parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue was limited to those who gained Secret Service approval in advance.

Obama's day began at the Tomb of he Unknowns at Arlington National cemetery, where he and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden laid a wreath in memory of fallen heroes. The two men placed their hands over their hearts as a uniformed bugler played taps in a somber opening to a festive day.

The scene was quite different at the church a few miles away, where the congregation erupted in applause when Obama and his family walked to their seats.

"Understand that God has prepared you, and God has placed you, and God will not forsake you," Harkins told the incoming president.

Children sang and spoke selected readings that recalled King, killed in 1968.

"Martin Luther King walked so that Barack Obama could run," said one boy. "Barack Obama ran so that all children could fly," added another, standing a few feet away from the first African-American ever elected president.

At the Lincoln Memorial a few hours later, King's son, Martin Luther King III, had a brief speaking role.

For the most part, the program was a festival of music, the songs chosen to make their points. Mary J. Blige sang, "Lean on Me," Springsteen performed "The Rising," and Obama mouthed the words as 89-year-old Pete Seeger pitched in with "This Land is Your Land."

Many in the crowd sang along with Beyonce's soulful finale, "America the Beautiful."

In film clips at earlier moments, Obama was cast as heir to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and even Lincoln, who the president-elect said was "the man who in so many ways made this day possible."

As Obama moved around town in a pre-inaugural motorcade, his aides blanketed Sunday's interview programs.

With the nation facing the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression, they all agreed that recovery was the principal challenge facing the new president.

"What's important ... is ensuring that those that have had the short end of the stick for the last few years _ make sure that they get the help that they need, that this administration begins to create the jobs and give some financial stability to families so that they can feel hopeful about going forward," said Robert Gibbs, who will serve as Obama's White House press secretary.

"Three million, 4 million jobs is going to make a very big difference," said Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to the incoming president, referring to the goal Obama has set. "It all depends on psychology, but we are going to be leaning forward throughout this administration. The president's made it clear that our errors are not going to be of standing back."

A new day: Let it begin!

2009-01-18T08:03:00.003-06:00

WASHINGTON — Invoking hope and history, President-elect Barack Obama rolled into the capital city Saturday night after pledging to help bring the nation "a new Declaration of Independence" and promising to rise to the stern challenges of the times. He kicked off a four-day inaugural celebration with a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861.

Obama began his day in Philadelphia, where he said the young nation had faced its "first true test" as a fragile democracy. He ended it in Washington, where his own tests await after his inauguration on Tuesday.

The president-in-waiting drew on a grand heritage of American giants as he appealed "not to our easy instincts but to our better angels," an echo of Lincoln's first inaugural address. He took note of the enormous challenges that lie ahead and promised to act with "fierce urgency," a phrase often used by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Riding a vintage railcar on his whistle-stop trip to Washington, Obama carried with him the hopes of a nation weary of war, frightened of economic chaos and searching for better days. Vice President-elect Joe Biden joined the journey en route, from his home in Delaware, and spoke for many when he said he was excited and ready for Tuesday.

Then, sobered by the challenges of governing, Biden added: "I think it's Wednesday we need to be ready."

Obama was smiling and confident throughout the day and across the miles, reaching at each stop for history's lessons. In Philadelphia, he noted the risks taken by the men who declared America independent from Britain. In Wilmington, he applauded the state that first ratified the Constitution. And in Baltimore, he hailed the troops at Fort McHenry who beat back the British navy and inspired the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Washington pulsed with anticipation of Obama's swearing in as the nation's first black president. The city was aflutter with preparations for four days of parties and pomp, shadowed at every turn by layer upon layer of security. For every banner or piece of bunting that was going up around the city, there was a concrete barrier or metal fence at the ready as well.

Revelers eager to get a head start on the celebration already were flowing into the city.

Toni Mateo, 38, arrived on a packed train from Atlanta. It was a quiet ride at first, he said.

"I just screamed out `Obama,' and the whole crowd erupted," he said.

For all the travelers arriving in Washington, there were plenty headed the opposite direction _ fleeing the crowds, the security, and the winter cold.

For traveler Obama, there was a celebratory air as his train pulled out of the station at Philadelphia.

"Welcome aboard the 2009 inaugural train to D.C," the conductor intoned.

Obama's blue rail car was tacked onto the back of a 10-car Amtrak train filled with hundreds of guests, reporters and staff for the 137-mile ride to Washington. Along the way, Obama and his wife, Michelle, appeared on the back balcony periodically to wave to shivering crowds bundled up in blankets and parkas who had gathered by the dozens, the hundreds and more along the route.

One held a sign that read, "Happy Birthday Michelle," taking note of the future first lady's 45th birthday. Another, in Delaware, waved a placard that said, "We came from Massachusetts 2 C U."

The well-wishers hoped not just for a glimpse of the 44th president-in-waiting but for a cameo role in history.

Joan Schiff, 47, a small business owner who campaigned for Obama, turned out for his departure from Philadelphia.

"At some point, you look up and think, 'I am in a moment,'" she said.

Carolyn Tyson, 55, came from Medford, N.J. to catch Obama's stop in Wilmington. She arrived a good seven hours early, at 6:30 a.m., to see the new president. "It's unreal, it's surreal," she said of Obama's election. Tyson, who is black, said she never thought she'd see a president of color.

The heady, celebratory air was tempered, however, by the tumult of the times, and Obama was quick to acknowledge them.

"Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast," he said. "An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil."

"There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments," he said, "and we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency."

While talking about the future, Obama reflected on the past, echoing the words of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy. He cited the founding fathers who risked everything with no assurance of success in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776:

"They were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line _ their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor _ for a set of ideals that continue to light the world: That we are equal. That our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws, but from our maker. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure."

The president-elect's triumphant day started with a sober discussion of the country's future with 41 people he met during his long quest for the White House. Preparing to board the train, Obama said that "what's required is a new declaration of independence _ from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry."

Obama left the train briefly in Baltimore to address a frozen-but-hearty crowd of more than 40,000, echoing his earlier remarks and alluding to the men who defended nearby Fort McHenry.

"We are here today not simply to pay tribute to those patriots who founded our nation in Philadelphia or defended it in Baltimore, but to take up the cause for which they gave so much," he said.

Back in Washington, members of his administration looked beyond the inauguration to the details of governing.

Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett addressed the U.S. Conference of Mayors and asked for help pushing through legislation to jump-start the moribund economy.

Although Obama's path tracked Lincoln's and took on the same overtone of high security, it wasn't the journey of virtual secrecy that the 16th president-elect took so long ago on the eve of the Civil War. Lincoln was smuggled under cover of darkness from one train station to another to avoid a feared assassination attempt.

The FBI has been planning for the inauguration since June. Large trucks, a bomb-detecting robot, canisters with hundreds of gallons of water to disrupt a car bomb and other emergency response equipment stretch down a block near the FBI's Washington Field Office.

John Perren, a special agent in charge of counterterrorism, said there was no credible intelligence warning of any attack.

"We're very, very confident that if anything happens, we know how to respond to it," Perren said.

___

Associated Press Writers Darlene Superville, Nafeesa Syeed and Eileen Sullivan in Washington, Randall Chase in Wilmington, and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Raymond J. Learsy: The day of big oil comes to an end

2009-01-17T07:37:00.002-06:00

With Bush leaving town the air is going out of the price of oil.
When back in Texas Bush will be hailed as the President who brought the oil patch $147 barrel oil through the willful sponsorship of policies conducive to high oil prices ranging from the mismanagement of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, cozying up to Saudi Arabia and OPEC, encouraging the Iraqi government to rejoin OPEC, turning a blind eye to speculation and manipulation of oil trading on the commodities markets until Congress finally interceded, permitting OPEC to collude in threatening to veto the NOPEC bill that would have passed in Congress, and by doing virtually nothing in eight years to inhibit the use of fossil fuels other than a token minimum MPG mandate for Detroit and a lame allocation over those eight years dedicating some $20 billion to develop alternative energy sources, not even a sum approaching the $29 Billion made available to save Bear Stearns over one weekend. So much for the outgoing administration's convoluted priorities.

And with prices collapsing, woe unto President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. After spending the better part of the last eight years making life miserable for those oil companies that invested in Venezuela, nationalizing oil fields and subjecting them to tax extortion and imposing confiscatory royalty increases, his factotums have begun soliciting the likes of Total, Chevron and Shell in the hope of getting them to invest in Venezuela again. Good luck! The grand alliances trumpeted with his pals in Moscow for joint ventures in oil production and tar sands development seem to have gone by the wayside as well in that Russia's economy is being equally devastated by the collapse of oil prices. Things have gotten so out of hand that Hugo is limiting his fellow citizens to buying no more than US$2500 when traveling abroad at the official exchange rate. What they do on the "parallel" market where the rate is twice as high, is another story.

And the oil companies must be having a difficult time paying their oil industry flacks. How little we have heard recently about upheavals in Nigeria, fog on the Houston Ship Channel, hurricanes off Trinidad, exploding consumption in China and India, production constraints at the sadly overworked oil fields of OPEC, declining reserves in Mexico, peak oil poppycock and on.

And then of course there is King Abdullah publicly declaring that $75 oil would be reasonable, and his ever loyal and quotable oil minister Ali Naimi doing his best to be quoted by anyone who will listen, "We are working very hard to bring the market back to balance ...We will do what it takes to bring the market back to balance" he was quoted in the FT this week. This while announcing that Saudi Arabia had unilaterally cut oil production by more than the agreed OPEC limit. Really? Think about it. Mr. Ali al-Naimi is, has been notorious in putting things in the best light, supportive of oil prices and rationalizing extortionary price levels with such self serving proclamations ranging from "build more refineries", to its all about "the falling value of the dollar" to such vacuous mumblings as "we too are afraid of high oil prices", this when oil prices were heading toward $50/bbl, before the ascent to $147, with the Saudis willfully cutting their output all the way. Could it be, could it just be, that with virtually all land storage filled to overflow and over 80 million barrels of oil sitting in storage at sea all over the world in VLCC cargo tankers, and millions more in loaded vessels proceeding purposely at snails pace speed ahead because there is nowhere to offload at destination, that the Saudis have not purposefully cut production, but that their has been little call for offtake of their oil with fewer ships coming to Saudi Arabia to lift cargo?

Whatever the price of oil is now ($36/bbl WTI as of this writing) we must never forget where the oil industry, its friends in government, Hugo and his gang, Ali al Naimi and his cohorts at OPEC would take us again if they could. Happily, and lecturing us all along the way to $147/bbl and beyond. Let us hope that with our new President the era of fossil fuel's domination of our lives will come to an end. That our dependence on oil be such that Mr. Ali al- Naimi can cut production to his hearts content, and we wouldn't care a drop.

Inauguration Damage Control: Openly Gay Bishop has first prayer of the event

2009-01-16T05:39:00.004-06:00

New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, a vocal gay rights leader, will open President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration with a prayer on Sunday's kick-off event at the Lincoln Memorial.

"I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, We are One, to be held at the Lincoln Memorial," Robinson wrote in an email to friends.

The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the gay community over Obama's choice of evangelical, anti-gay pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.

"It's important for any minority to see themselves represented in some way," Robinson said in an interview with the Concord Monitor. "Whether it be a racial minority, an ethnic minority or, in our case, a sexual minority. Just seeing someone like you up front matters."

Robinson is the first openly gay diocesan bishop in the Anglican Communion. "God never gets it wrong. The church often takes a long time to get it right. It is a human institution, but one capable of self-correction," Robinson told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "I believe in my heart that the church got it wrong about homosexuality. There is great excitement in my heart to be living in a time when the church is starting to get it right."

Robinson said he would love to sit down with Rick Warren but believed that the California pastor has "perpetrated lies about the gay, lesbian and bisexual community."

Tell me again now, just who are the bullies here?

2009-01-15T08:11:00.002-06:00

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the U.N. and witnesses said, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food intended for Palestinian refugees. The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a "full explanation."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a "grave mistake."
An Israeli spokesman said the bombardment, which left three people wounded, was under investigation.
"It was a very difficult combat situation in the immediate vicinity of the building. It could have been stray fire. It could have been Hamas fire. Israel does not target U.N. facilities or U.N. personnel," said the spokesman, Mark Regev.
Even as a top Israeli envoy went to Egypt to discuss a cease-fire proposal, the military pushed farther into Gaza in an apparent effort to step up pressure on Hamas. Ground forces thrust deep into a crowded neighborhood for the first time, sending terrified residents fleeing for cover. Shells also struck a hospital, five high-rise apartment buildings and a building housing media outlets in Gaza City, injuring several journalists.
Bullets also entered another building housing The Associated Press offices, entering a room where two staffers were working but wounding no one. The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanded a halt to attacks on press buildings.
The army had collected the locations of media organizations at the outset of fighting to avoid such attacks.
Israel launched its war on Dec. 27 in an effort to stop militant rocket fire from Gaza that has terrorized hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Some 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians, according to U.N. and Palestinian medical officials. Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said at least 50 people were killed throughout Gaza on Thursday.
Thirteen Israelis also have been killed since the campaign began. Israel says it will press ahead until Hamas halts the rocket fire and stops smuggling weapons into Gaza from neighboring Egypt.

The 44th President of the United States: The Official Portrait

2009-01-15T05:24:00.002-06:00

CNN's Campbell Brown Rips Bush For Katrina Statements

2009-01-14T07:16:00.001-06:00

Geoffrey Dunn: Sarah Palin's Big Obama Lie

2009-01-13T05:54:00.002-06:00

To speak with anyone who's ever been in close proximity of Sarah Palin for any length of time, there is a constant thread in their commentary: she will say anything, lie about anything, if it is to her own benefit to do so. Much has been said or written about this during the campaign, particularly by The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, so there's no sense in going over any of this sordid record here.

But just when you think that Palin can't top herself--I mean the execution of a turkey in Wasilla is a pretty tough act to follow--here she comes again, seated down with a right-wing, self-promoting "filmmaker," John Ziegler, taking cheap-shots at the likes of Caroline Kennedy and Katie Couric. The bitterness and envy and mean-spiritedness just ooze from her pores throughout the interview.

While much has been made of the Kennedy and Couric comments, there was a troubling remark, largely overlooked, that Palin made about Barack Obama that was a flat-out, blatant lie--a typically Palinesque twisting of the truth intending, once again, to turn her into a victim and to make Obama & Co., along with the media, appear to be hypocrites.

Here is Palin's latest Big Lie:

"When I heard Barack Obama state in one of his interviews on national television that his wife was off limits, meaning, family's off limits-- you know, 'Attack me, I'm the public official, come after me, I can handle it and we'll duke it out if need be, but family's off limits'-- I naively believed, OK, they respected that in him and his demand for that to be adhered, naively believing that must apply to all of us, right? But it didn't apply."

While Obama did say that he found attacks on his wife "unacceptable," he also very bodly and emphatically stated that Palin's family was also off limits when asked a question about Bristol Palin's pregnancy:

"I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a VP. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

He wasn't protecting simply his own family with that assertion, he was also protecting Palin's. And Palin lacks the basic grace, integrity and human decency to acknowledge Obama's gesture. And then she twists the truth to make Obama seem selfish and the media unfair.

And what about her claim that Obama's wishes were "respected" about his own family? The right-wing press went after Michelle Obama relentlessly and so, too, did the McCain campaign. None other than Cindy McCain went after Michelle for comments she made about finally being proud of her country:

"I don't know why she said what she said. Everyone has their own experience. I don't know why she said what she said, all I know is that I have always been proud of my country."

That seemed a little off-base coming from someone born with a silver-spoon in her mouth and who not only served as her husband's connection to the Keating Five Scandal, but then later stole drugs from her own nonprofit organization to sustain her drug habit. But make that charge she did.

And the right continued to attack her through the campaign--from Michelle Malkin to Ann Coulter. Anyone who claims otherwise is wallowing in duplicity.

So here again, Palin utterly distorts reality, fails to acknowledge Obama's gesture, doesn't acknowledge what her running mate's wife said about Michelle Obama, and turns herself, yet again, into a political victim. Where is Ann Coulter calling Palin on her self-victimization? The silence is deafening.

Philip Weiss: Rethinking Zionism

2009-01-12T06:06:00.002-06:00

Dana Goldstein, whose thoughtful condemnation of the Gaza slaughter after years of reserve I welcome, is a little uncomfortable with the embrace. She points out that I have identified myself as a non- or anti-Zionist, and says that anti-Zionism is redolent of antisemitism. She's a post-Zionist, she says. Goldstein's comments deserve a response, especially at this moment in intellectual life, when so many people are crowding the doorways of this conversation.

I also used to say post- or non-Zionist to avoid being negative. The playwright David Zellnik told me that anti-Zionist felt to him like a denial of Israel's considerable achievements and I respected David's view. Now I've come to say that I'm an anti-Zionist for several reasons.

First: My feelings are not neutral about Zionism; I don't like it. As a Jew, I think about it a lot and there is nothing I can really feel positive about outside of the Jewish pride and its historical significance of it and its visionary component. All these elements have lost their value: Zionism privileges Jews and justifies oppression, and this appalls me. Saying I'm anti-Zionist is a sincere expression of my minority-respecting worldview.

Second, Post-Zionist strikes me as an evasion. At this moment, Zionism reigns in historical Palestine and in American Jewish leadership. To say you're a post-Zionist is like saying you're a post-Communist during the Stalin purges. You are tastefully separating yourself from the world, dainty as an English person drinking tea with their little finger in the air. Zionism remains a very powerful force in Middle East affairs and American society. It's not helpful to those who are trying to understand these matters to evade this fact or suggest that post-Zionism is actually a real factor in, say, the life of Gaza City. I urge people to take a stand if they find Zionist beliefs that privilege 6 million Jews over 5-6 million non-Jews and that have entailed apartheid on the West Bank and ethnic cleansing a supportable ideology, especially in the age of our mutt president-to-be.

Third, anti-Zionism is an idealistic Jewish tradition. In fact, it draws on the same visionary and If-you-dream-it feeling that Zionism did 100 years ago, before the militants ruined it, and engages the same young restless sensibilities and liberationist feeling as Zionism did by imagining Israel as a state of its citizens, not a Jewish state. We anti-Zionists can say with honor that anti-Zionists like Rabbi Elmer Berger identified the problems with Zionism 60 years ago, accurately when he said that Zionism meant contempt for the Arab population, dependence on a backroom lobby in the United States, and the introduction of dual loyalty into American Jewish life. All true. Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin and Norman Mailer all opposed Zionism to one degree or another out of concerns with ethnocentrism--didn't like its Is-it-good-for-the-Jews backbeat. These problems are larger today than ever, especially post-Iraq-war and the Iraq war's idiot stepson, Gaza.

Finally, declaring I'm anti-Zionist is a way of trying to make room in American life for this view. Right now being critical of Israel means that you can hurt your business, as a Bay Area professional told the San Francisco Chronicle. True and disgusting. As Jimi Hendrix said when he was changing attitudes: I'm going to wave my freak flag high!

As to the antisemitism point, the American Jewish Committee has said the same thing: anti-Zionism is antisemitism. It thus conflates Jewishness with Zionism, and this conflation is damaging the Jewish experience around the world. When Dana says she worries about the antisemitic suggestion of anti-Zionism, I feel a shadow of censoriousness. There are things you can and can't say. Well, I am an empowered Jew who has never experienced functional antisemitism ever in my life, and my empowerment is also part of this conversation: I insist on speaking about Jewish cultural/financial power in the U.S. as a component of my Zionist critique. Do I think that Jews should be denied power? No! Do I think that there should be quotas on Jewish inclusion in elite institutions? No! Well: I would like Jewish participation in mainstream media roundtables on the Middle East held to 50 percent. That is my quota. These ideas have made some of my readers uncomfortable. They've made me uncomfortable. I grew up in fear of lurking antisemitism. But I have decided in my 50s that these are things I think about all the time as a mature person, however flawed I am, and I think they're important--so I am going to talk about them.

And I would add that shutting down debate in the name of "antisemitism" strikes me as selfish. Our phantom worries about a second Holocaust take precedence over the real evidence that surrounds us of man's inhumanity to man, not just man's inhumanity to Jews. And our phantom worries mean that we cannot address the incredible, everyday, real suffering of Palestinians that has been perpetrated politically in large part by empowered American Jews who are all over the media and political establishment, some of whom limit debate of the issue by citing a possible infraction of our tremendous freedoms. Believe me, when our freedoms are encroached upon, I will howl. Today and tomorrow I howl for the Jewish leadership's actual crushing of the Palestinian right of self-determination.

Barack Obama drops in at Ben's Chili Bowl in DC

2009-01-11T07:42:00.002-06:00

The alarming dangers of gay marriage

2009-01-10T08:41:00.000-06:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Palin's whine session

2009-01-10T07:31:00.002-06:00

Sarah Palin whines about how she was treated by the "liberal elite" media during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Classic Sarah Palin.

Jon Stewart with Rachel Maddow

2009-01-09T05:41:00.003-06:00

MSNBC's new kid on the block, Rachel Maddow, in an interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Rachel Maddow

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

An Historical Moment: Obama has lunch with four presidents

2009-01-08T00:05:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON – Confronting a grim economy and a Middle East on fire, Barack Obama turned Wednesday to perhaps the only people on the planet who understand what he's in for: the four living members of the U.S. presidents' club. In an image bound to go down in history, every living U.S. president came together at the White House on Wednesday to hash over the world's challenges with the president-elect. There they stood, shoulder-to-shoulder in the Oval Office: George H.W. Bush, Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

"This is an extraordinary gathering," Obama said, looking plenty at ease in the humbling office that will soon be his.

"All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office," Obama said. "And for me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary. And I'm very grateful to all of them."

Bush, blistered without mercy by Obama during the campaign season, played the role of gracious host.

"All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual," Bush said as Obama nodded in thanks. "And we wish you all the very best. And so does the country."

It was a moment of statesmanship that tends to happen when presidents get together, no matter how bitter their previous rivalries. In a photo opportunity that lasted less than two minutes, Carter, Clinton and the senior Bush smiled but said nothing. They deferred to the nation's incoming and outgoing leaders.

Earlier, Bush and Obama met privately in the Oval Office in a chat expected to cover events of the day, mainly the troubled economy and Middle East. The two have shown solidarity since Obama's win in November, with one previous Oval Office sit-down and at least a few phone calls in recent weeks.

All sides were determined to say as little as possible about what was discussed. Presidents — new, old, incoming — like to keep their conversations private.

Without offering any specifics, Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs said all the presidents "had helpful advice on managing the office as well as thoughts on the critical issues facing the country right now. The president-elect is anxious to stay in touch with all of them in the coming years."

From the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said the discussion was "wide-ranging" but declined to comment further. Before the gathering, she had said she could not imagine the leaders would meet without discussing the Middle East, where conflict rages in Gaza, or the economy, which is sinking.

The White House would not even say what the men ate, allowing only that they ordered off the menu of the White House mess, as Bush does all the time.

Intentionally or not, Bush opened the media moment in a curious way, suggesting that he was already out the door.

"I want to thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presidents for lunch," said Bush, who is in fact still the president until Jan. 20.

"One message that I have, and I think we all share, is that we want you to succeed," Bush added, a beaming Clinton at his other side. "Whether we're Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country."

White House aides tried to usher the media out of the Oval Office when Bush stopped speaking. The lighting for the event even went dark.

But sometimes, there is more than one president at a time.

Obama spoke up on his own, the lights went back on, and the cameras kept rolling.

"I just want to thank the president for hosting us," Obama said. When a reporter asked Obama what he could learn from the mistakes of the four presidents surrounding him, he smiled and said he planned to learn from their successes.

The get-together was Obama's idea, and Bush liked it. The lunch lasted about 90 minutes, held in a small dining room off the Oval Office.

Carter, Clinton and the two Bush presidents were last together at the Washington funeral service of President Gerald Ford in 2007. And presidents have gathered at other occasions over the years. But not since October 1981 — 27 years ago — had all of the living presidents gathered at the White House.

Don't let the door hit yer ass on the way out!

2009-01-07T05:25:00.004-06:00

The Bushes have started packing and their new neighbors in Texas have already started complaining.

The Dallas Morning News reports that President Bush is planning to install a gate limiting public access to his house -- on a public street. Federal money would be used to pay for the gate.

Just like his father, President George W. Bush will return to Texas when he leaves office. And just like his father, he wants a gate to be installed along a public street to limit access to his neighborhood.

Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm confirmed Monday that the younger Bush is seeking to have a gate placed somewhere along the entrance to streets leading to his future Preston Hollow address.

Bush's new community has a history of controversial exclusivity. Raw Story reported that the neighborhood of Preston Hollow did not allow non-white residents until 2000.

When Bush announced that he was moving to Preston Hollow, one of his new neighbors said she was "afraid ... the whole neighborhood is going to be a target."

The Hill reported Tuesday that Bush and his family had begun packing their belongings for the move out of the White House.

Brian Ross on fixing the broken health care system

2009-01-06T05:13:00.002-06:00

National health is the bogeyman of insurance companies, who have in turn fanned the flames with physicians and the general public to keep their fat businesses open and churning out the same inconsistent, poorly run mess that we've had since guys with big white smiles started knocking on doors and selling "health insurance" in the last century. Each company, even ones with the same name, do business differently in different states. For Obama, the challenge will not only be bringing people into the healthcare system, but ending dozens of fiefdoms and bringing more uniform quality care to Americans along with simple access.

If you want the point driven home to you, travel with your healthcare.

I am a citizen of the Sunshine State of Florida, and a holder of a private Paid Provider Option (PPO) health care plan administered by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida. I recently took a trip with my family that landed me in the Realm of Blue Shield of California.

In Florida, our company of the same name has high deductibles for personal insurance, pays out very poorly on pharmacy benefits, and is very big for its PPO customers on the use of Urgent Care rather than the old Emergency Room when you have a problem that is short of immediate death.

In California, their personal plans, which, after years of consumer advocates fighting Big Blue, are part of a very big pool of insured that even dwarfs the pools of many private employers. They have exceptionally good pharmacy benefits, much less draconian deductibles, and generally better benefits for its subscribers at a lower cost than we do in Florida.

My wife had a bad head cold. She was worried that she might be getting an infection. When you're going to fly across country in a couple of days, that is not something that you want to leave until you get home, as the airplane and the pressure alone can make you a whole lot sicker. She wanted to get checked out before she flew, and our physician was, of course, several thousand miles away.

We learned, from our one experience last year with an "out of network" outpatient center that you can pay thousands of dollars that would have been covered on the in-network plan, and, in spite of those clever charts that Blue Cross showed us, out of their network you are pretty much at the mercy of the providers in a very costly system. Thus burned, we wanted to find an in-network Urgent Care that was under our health care plan.

I went to the Blue Cross of Florida website. They only list companies inside the state. They do not have a suggestion as to what to do when you are on the road. So I called.

While I was not shipped off to some call center in India, after spending about four minutes navigating through all of the questions about my call that had nothing to do with seeking health coverage in faraway California, I waited about four more minutes and was connected to a woman we'll call "Tonya."

I'm not sure if Blue Cross gives their customer service employees special training to achieve that put-out monotone, or if they put them in a dungeon, or a dank basement to get them to sound like they hate their jobs that much, but Tonya was about typical of my phone calls to the insurance company.

She ran down the checklist of things that she is supposed to ask at the entry of the call. When I told her that I was needing to know what to do about finding an urgent care facility out of state that was covered under my plan, she put me on hold, then she came back and told me to contact the local Blue Cross and Blue Shield provider in California to get their list.

I went to their website, figuring that I could get a list of providers. No such luck, unless you were a subscriber. It required a password and account.

So I called their 800 customer service number. All of the options were for California subscribers with an account as well. Nothing for out of state Blue Shield members.

I hung up, thought for a moment, then called back, and tried pressing "O" to see if I could get someone. Even though it wasn't a choice, it worked.

Speaking to another "Tonya" I was put through my paces of my member number, which I didn't have, and all of the potential issues that weren't mine until I politely told her that I was from another Blue Cross/Blue Shield and needed a list of Urgent Care centers that were approved.

"I don't see why our list would matter to your Blue Cross. They're not their centers," she said.

I had to explain to her that this was the instruction of my insurance provider. She put me on hold for three minutes, then came back.

"They're on line," she shot back rather curtly. When I explained that it had a security account/password feature, she told me that there was a link at the bottom. I went back to the page. Sure enough, in the tiny print there was a note that you could click there if you didn't want to sign in to get this list. I asked her why bother, then, having someone sign in if you can bypass this screen in the first place.

"I don't make the website," she said. "They want you to log in if you have a subscriber number."

Never ask a common sense question to a bureaucrat. It isn't their system. They just work there.

I downloaded the list, after nearly 35 minutes of trying to get the information. There were three urgent care facilities listed in the area. The ones closest to me had both closed. There was one in downtown San Diego, 15 miles from my hotel. Just then, my sister-in-law, who lives in the area, called. I asked her about the place in downtown San Diego.

She told me to call Scripps, one of the finest medical facilities in the world, which was two blocks down the street. She said that they take my plan.

I called. They did.

Yet they were not on the "official" list. My wife would have had to travel miles to a facility when one that was able to help me was literally less than a quarter-mile from my hotel because the bureaucracy at Blue Cross doesn't keep information up-to-date.

I tell this tale of daily life that most, if not all, of you experience because this health care hassle is emblematic of how broken our medical system has become.

Dozens of sloppy bureaucracies make it difficult enough to get what you pay for in your home state. Traveling out of state with your health plan can be like going to a foreign country, even when you are with one of the biggest insurance networks in the country.

This was an easy and non-life threatening situation. Imagine you or your loved ones having to wade through this mess if you get hit by a car out of state, or someone mugs you in a shopping mall.

I can only imagine what happens when you have a regional provider who covers the East or West, or a handful of states, and you travel out of their coverage zone. How many doctors in California will even know what to do with the Iowa Mutual Health card, or the Lovelace of New Mexico card that you carry?

When physician acquaintances of mine give me their sermon on the Mount about the evils of National Health and its bureaucratic nature, I have to laugh. Their offices struggle with five, ten or twenty of these fiefdoms and their myriad rules and payment regulations daily. Many caregivers in our state won't even deal with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida because of the immense hassle.

When Mr. Obama gets to the subject of national healthcare, getting the same insurance as the congressmen and senators in Washington D.C. is not going to be enough. His health insurance team is going to have to tackle the mess that this quagmire of insurance companies has made of the healthcare system, and streamline it.

The 50 year old man in San Diego should be getting his medications for the same price as the 50 year old man in Vero Beach, Florida. If the guy from Vero travels to see his friend in San Diego, he should have the same rules, and same access, and same benefits wherever he goes from East to West, whether he is with Blue Cross, Blue Shield, or Spanky's Super Duper Health.

In the current system, it is possible, even likely, that our President-Elect, even with his spiffy senate plan, might find himself faced with:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Obama but we don't take your insurance. You might wait until the 20th when you become President. Then we cover you."

President-elect Obama's Weekly Address

2009-01-05T06:02:00.001-06:00

Bushisms over the years

2009-01-04T05:48:00.002-06:00

_ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." _ September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.

_ "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" _ January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

_ "They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." _ Sept. 26, 2001, in Langley, Va. Bush was referring to the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.

_ "There's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." _ Oct. 4, 2001, in Washington. Bush was remarking on a back-to-work plan after the terrorist attacks.

_ "It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." _ April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

_ "I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves." _ April 18, 2002, at the White House.

"There's an old saying in Tennessee _ I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee _ that says, fool me once, shame on _ shame on you. Fool me _ you can't get fooled again." _ Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.

_ "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." _ Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.

_ "Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." _ Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

_ "Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." _ April 20, 2005, in Washington.

_ "We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job." _ Sept. 20, 2005, in Gulfport, Miss.

_ "I can't wait to join you in the joy of welcoming neighbors back into neighborhoods, and small businesses up and running, and cutting those ribbons that somebody is creating new jobs." _ Sept. 5, 2005, when Bush met with residents of Poplarville, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

_ "It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war 60 years ago we were at war." _ June 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

_ "Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." _ Dec. 7, 2006, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

_ "These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved." _ June 11, 2007, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

_ "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." _ September 2007, in Sydney, Australia, where Bush was attending an APEC summit.

_ "Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech." April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.

_ "The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there's jobs at the machine-making place." _ May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.

_ "And they have no disregard for human life." _ July 15, 2008, at the White House. Bush was referring to enemy fighters in Afghanistan.

_ "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office." _ June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.

_ "Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people." _ July 4, 2008 in Virginia.

_ "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer _ prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them. It's good to come down here." _ Sept. 3, 2008, at an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast.

_ "This thaw _ took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." Oct. 20, 2008, in Alexandria, La., as he discussed the economy and frozen credit markets.

Brian Goldsmith: Why are Obama and family being shut out of Blair House?

2009-01-03T04:41:00.002-06:00

If I were the political editor at a newspaper -- or Washington bureau chief of a network -- I'd call in my White House team, as well as the investigative reporters, and ask them to try to answer the following questions:

1. Given that the Obamas want to move to Blair House ten days before the traditional January 15 pre-inaugural start date -- so that they're in DC for Sasha and Malia's first day of school -- which Bush administration official decided to shut them out of the official presidential guest house and tell them to book a hotel?

2. Laura Bush's spokeswoman will say only that Blair House "is not available and won't be available until January 15." Why is it unavailable? The New York Times reports that the State Department isn't aware of any foreign dignitaries visiting from January 5 to 15, so what distinguished Americans are staying there who take precedence over the president-elect?

3. If -- as some report -- Blair House is being used for receptions, why can't the receptions be held in one of the 132 rooms in the White House? Or in one of the hundreds of reception halls in government offices from the State Department to the Reagan Building?

4. At a time of economic crisis and record debt, how much is it costing taxpayers to put the Obamas up at the Hay-Adams? (Presumably, the Secret Service requires not just the presidential suite, but the whole floor. And maybe the floor above and the floor below.)

5. Blair House is just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. It's already part of the presidential security cordon. What will the inevitable concrete barriers and sharpshooters do to pedestrian and automobile traffic around the Hay-Adams? And more importantly, will President-elect Obama and his family be as safe there as they would in Blair House?

Katrina victims forced by government to leave FEMA cottages

2009-01-02T09:09:00.004-06:00

WAVELAND, Miss. — Thousands of cottages housing hurricane victims on the Mississippi Gulf Coast will be vacated next month, even though many of their occupants aren't ready to move and may have no place to go if forced out.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed the one-, two- and three-bedroom structures to temporarily house displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. There are still 2,300 occupied cottages in Mississippi, said Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Many of the cottages sit on residents' lots while they rebuild wrecked homes, he said.

According to agreements between the state agency and cities, the cottages will need to be emptied by the end of January and removed by March, Womack said.

Housing advocates, residents and some local officials worry that forcing out residents, many of whom are trying to rebuild their homes, will aggravate an already dire housing situation.

"If these (cottages) are gone, there's just not going to be enough affordable housing," said Tim Kellar, county administrator of Hancock County, which includes Waveland. "We don't have an alternate plan if that happens."

FEMA distributed the cottages, free of charge, as an alternative to the temporary trailers that first housed hurricane victims. The program was applauded as Mississippi officials acquired and distributed thousands of the cottages; neighboring Louisiana lagged behind.

The cottages were always meant to be temporary, not a permanent housing solution, Womack said. The structures may not withstand another powerful storm and many violate zoning rules, he said.

"We just can't allow these cottages to stay in place where they're unsafe or degrading the property values of homes around them," Womack said.

Rebuilding homes or finding alternative housing has been a slow, arduous process in post-Katrina Mississippi, said Andrew Canter of the Mississippi Center for Justice, a housing advocacy group. For example, none of the public housing units has been rebuilt in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, two of the hardest-hit coastal towns, leaving scores of residents with few options, he said.

Forcing residents from the cottages next month could leave many hurricane victims homeless, he said. "Thousands of people will not be able to find new housing," Canter said.

FEMA has offered to sell the cottages to residents, pending approval by the cities in which they reside, Canter said. Some of the cities, such as Waveland and Bay St. Louis, will only allow the cottages in trailer parks, he said.

Waveland resident Mary Elizabeth Shaerrouse, 84, has lived in her two-bedroom cottage since October 2007. The cottage is parked on her property while her house is being rebuilt. Problems with a contractor have delayed construction until August 2009. She doesn't know what she'll do if she's forced out by the end of January, she said.

"It's truly a roadblock," Shaerrouse said. "I'm just trying to make it to August."

Only twenty more days!

2009-01-01T08:35:00.002-06:00

Here's to 2009 'cause 2008 really sucked

2008-12-31T08:26:00.002-06:00

SYDNEY, Australia – Fireworks exploded in a kaleidoscopic shower of light over Sydney's shimmering harbor Wednesday, as the world's first major city to ring in 2009 celebrated the end of a decidedly rocky year with cheers, beers and a sense of relief.

Spectator Randolph King, 63, of York, England, whose retirement fund was gutted in the global financial crisis, summed up the feeling of many across the world as 2008 came to a close: "I'm looking forward to 2009," he said. "Because it can't get much worse."

Facing the end of a year that saw global markets come crashing down — taking the world's morale with them — partygoers everywhere struggled to forget their troubles on what is typically a joyous night.

In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo spoke of hope for better days to come, while in Hong Kong, some admitted they were too depressed over their monetary woes to join in the revelry. And in Malaysia, the government — mindful of the shaky economy — opted against sponsoring any celebration at all.

In Sydney, the midnight pyrotechnic extravaganza, which organizers hoped would give revelers a brief respite from the global gloom, drew a cheering crowd of more than a million people. Fireworks zigged and zagged against the backdrop of Sydney's famed Harbor Bridge and simulated rain, thunder and lightning built toward a booming "creation storm," in keeping with the evening's theme of new beginnings.

"It is about reflecting and looking at what's happened in the past and moving forward," the celebration's creative director, Rhoda Roberts, said of the night's "creation" theme, chosen in part to reflect the struggles of 2008. "It's a time for the community to gather, to reflect, and also to move on and to simply have a little bit of joy and celebration in their lives."

But in Hong Kong, where thousands were expected at popular Victoria Harbor for a midnight fireworks display, those who had investments linked to collapsed U.S. bank Lehman Brothers said there was little joy to be found.

"I don't think there's any reason for me to celebrate after knowing that my investment is worth nothing now," said electrical repairman Chan Hon-ming, who had purchased a $30,000 Lehman-backed investment.

In India, many were happy to see the end of 2008, during which the country was rocked by a series of terrorist attacks in several cities culminating in a three-day siege in Mumbai in which gunmen killed 164 people.

"The year 2008 can best be described as a year of crime, terrorist activities, bloodshed and accidents," said Tavishi Srivastava, 51, an office worker in the northern city of Lucknow. "I sincerely hope that 2009 will be a year of peace and progress."

The year was also tough on India's economy. Rising inflation and the global meltdown slowed the growth needed to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, while stock exchanges plummeted, hitting the rich and middle class.

In Tokyo, dozens of volunteers stirred huge pots of New Year's rice-cake soup, pitched tents and doled out blankets and clothing to the needy.

The "New Year's Village for Temporary Workers" was set up for the first time this year to provide free meals and shelter in a park. About 100 people signed up to spend New Year's Eve at the village, which will hold a countdown ceremony and be open through Jan. 5.

Japan has long boasted a system of lifetime employment at major companies, but that has unraveled this year amid the financial crisis.

"There's no work," muttered Mitsuo Kobayashi, 61, picking up a wool scarf, a coat and pants at the village, and stuffing them in his paper bag. "Who knows what next year will bring?"

In Thailand, after a year of near-daily protests — and six months in which demonstrations all but paralyzed the government — the country was finally calm on the last day of 2008 as loyalists of ousted ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra took off for a five-day national holiday. Many of the protesters come from Thailand's rural northeast and have few opportunities to get home except for longer holidays like New Year's.

Celebrations were muted in China, where fireworks and feasting are reserved mainly for the Lunar New Year, which in 2009 begins on Jan. 26.

In Beijing, President Hu Jintao summed up the year's challenges and successes ranging from the devastating Sichuan earthquake — that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing — to the Beijing Olympics, calling 2008 extraordinary and unusual.

In the Philippines, President Arroyo looked toward the future.

"I pray for greater peace and stability," Arroyo said. "I hope that we can all work together as a global community to weather these storms."

___

Associated Press writers Denis Gray in Bangkok, Thailand, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, India, and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this story.

Patricia DeGennaro: War in Gaza solves nothing, only harms

2008-12-30T12:16:00.002-06:00

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
Mahatma Gandhi, 'Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,' May 3, 1919

As hopes of peace ring through the world in preparation for a New Year, Israel is massing tanks on the border of Gaza. For three days, the Israeli military has been launching bombing raids, 350 casualties and rising. The large-scale military campaign comes in response to rockets fired from militants in Gaza who have also slain innocents on the other side of the border.

Both sides are renewing calls for bloodshed as age-old arguments resurface. "Hamas terrorist" not recognizing Israel's right to exist and "Israel the bully" not accepting its own responsibility of closing off Gaza like a prison.

Any way you look at it, this is a far-reaching crisis for Palestinian and Israeli alike. Now known as the "hundred year headache," Israelis and Palestinians have been trying to prove to each other that they can survive never ending violence, an eternal occupation, and a perpetual cycle of denial that the two cannot exist together.

Israel, with one of the strongest militaries in the world, can definitely continue to bombard Palestinians. For their part, Palestinians have shown they too can hit back hard. Nevertheless, anyone can see that an end to this conflict is past due.

Israel knows this. That is why it made the decision to withdraw from the territory of Gaza in 2005. Unfortunately, this was a unilateral withdrawal on Israeli terms and conditions. No Palestinian participation necessary. Borders - including sea access, airspace, and external movement of people, goods, and services are all controlled by Israel. The Palestinians did not see this as peace, but a one-way ticket to a controlled detention center.

The agreement as it is has produced an extraordinary humanitarian emergency for the people in Gaza. Eighty percent of the population's livelihood comes from United Nations assistance programs if and when the UN can deliver. Hamas agreed to a truce with Israel in hopes that conditions would change and surprise little did no thanks to either party.

The cease fire broke down and rockets fired. The solution? Easy, return to war and both parties come full circle directly back to suffering.

Wars are unimaginably difficult to end. If they were not, the US would be out of Iraq, Afghanistan would be on its way to development, and the Israelis and Palestinians would be living, without bombarding the other, side by side.

Unfortunately for all concerned the battle continues. Guns are poised and people are dead. Thus far, the only solutions have been sticks, sticks and sticks.

The region, and the world, needs new answers and a courageous leadership to get there. Ideas must be discovered to think beyond war.

The trauma and devastation of war is incalculable. The Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma tells us about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): "in many cases, traumatic incidents ... leave lasting symptoms of paralyzing anxiety, grief, and hopelessness, as well as flashbacks, night terrors, and intrusive memories. These extremely debilitating and disempowering symptoms often impede survivors' ability to properly manage their life." Other studies show an increase in heart disease, cancer and brutal interpersonal violence.

Israel and Palestinians surely suffer from PTSD due to all these years at war. One report authored by Yael Benyamini from Tel Aviv University specifically tells us that, "Israeli veterans with PTSD...were twice as likely to have high blood pressure, ulcers and diabetes and five times as likely to have heart disease and headaches." Another from Queen's University in Canada echoes the risk, this time for children, "a child [in Gaza] who has witnessed friends injured or killed has 13 times the risk of PTSD" Gaza's population is comprised of 47% children, 98% of them have war trauma. Imagining these people's daily struggle due to all this trauma is too difficult for words.

These populations do not need more war. It is only making matters worse. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." The challenge then becomes ones ability to work tirelessly for peace and we all must do so. Only then, can the evil be temporary and the good everlasting.

2008 Political Year in Review

2008-12-29T09:09:00.002-06:00

The Okie's political satire pick of the year: SNL's "Sarah & Hillary"

2008-12-28T07:53:00.006-06:00

Saturday Night Live outdid themselves with political satire this year, capitalizing on the amazing talents of Sarah Palin look-alike, Tina Fey. And thanks to Governor Sarah Palin for giving them plenty of fodder! I don't remember when I've laughed so hard through an election!

The Bush Presidency: Shakespearean tragedy or cruel farce?

2008-12-27T05:56:00.002-06:00

Hoyt Hilsman-As the Bush era draws to a tragicomic close -- with shoes being hurled at the American president -- it might be tempting to portray the Bush presidency in Shakespearean terms, as a tale of overarching arrogance and hubris that led to his ultimate downfall. In fact, the presidency of George Bush hardly fits the bill. Bush himself described his disastrous tenure as "joyous" and there is barely a hint of personal tragedy or even discomfort in his legacy. Most telling was Bush's response to the shoe-throwing incident, when he wondered out loud what the fellow's "cause" might be, ignoring the widespread death and destruction visited on the Iraq people in the wake of the American invasion.

Unlike earlier failed presidents like Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, Bush does not seem to acknowledge or even recognize the destruction that he has wrought. At the end of their presidencies, Hoover and Nixon were tortured individuals, trying in vain to redeem themselves from the scorn of history. Despite their obvious suffering, or perhaps because of it, this cast Hoover and Nixon as characters in an overarching tragedy on a grand scale. There is no such grandeur in the Bush exit, even though the damage and suffering that he caused is arguably greater than either Hoover or Nixon.

In part, this may because Hoover and Nixon were, in many ways, gifted and talented individuals who were undone by their own tragic flaws. In Hoover's case, it was his deep-seated belief in capitalism, while in Nixon's case, it was his own myopia and paranoia in the exercise of power. Bush, on the other hand, brought few gifts to the White House beyond aw-shucks mannerisms and powerful friends. His commitment to spreading freedom -- and even to his own religious principles -- seem in retrospect to have been convenient ex post facto rationales for his political strategems.

What is most breathtaking about the Bush presidency -- beyond its arrogance and aggressive bluster -- is the sheer incompetence and lack of vision that was endemic to the administration. A more profound misreading of the state of the world and of the global balance of power could hardly be imagined, from the incoherent, unfocused declaration of a "global war on terror," to the unprecedented, preemptive invasion of a sovereign nation and the almost criminally benign neglect of overheated financial markets. The use of torture is but one particularly repugnant example of not only the Bush administration's moral bankruptcy, but also of their sheer incompetency. While countries like Israel, England and Germany - no strangers to terrorist tactics -- had long since developed much more sophisticated, and less morally offensive, interrogation techniques, the Bush administration applied outmoded, ineffective and immoral tactics that did not, and could not, achieve results.

At the center of all this was the blindly affable Bush, profoundly and blissfully ignorant of the fiasco over which he was presiding. While a special place in outer darkness must be reserved for his own monumental failures, the blame must be shared. The first circle is clearly those policy makers who, for the sake of infamy, must be mentioned by name: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condeleezza Rice, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, George Tenet and Paul Bremer. Although perhaps not personally as culpable, though clearly complicitous, were Colin Powell, who could have taken the courageous path of resignation, or General Tommy Franks, who must have seen the folly of the Iraq invasion, yet was a key enabler.

The responsibility, unfortunately, doesn't end there. Too many members of Congress - both Republicans and Democrats - put their heads down and their hands up, voting for a preemptive war that was impulsive and misguided, and then never did enough to stop the ongoing fiasco. And, finally, some blame has to rest with the American people. Those who supported the war must bear responsibility for condoning a destructive and misguided course, while those who opposed it must take responsibility for not doing enough to stop the madness in its tracks.

Sadly, much of the same incompetent stewardship that was the hallmark of the Iraq war was at work in other arenas, from Katrina to the economy, as we have discovered to our dismay over the past six months. While the Bush administration and the Republican do-nothing attitude towards regulating corporate fraud may be only partly to blame for our current dire economic straits, it is clear that they were not even bothering to rearrange the deck chairs as this Titanic began to sink. Ultimately, however, the American people must do some real soul-searching in the wake of a Presidency that was profoundly destructive of much that is good about America. The tragedy is hardly Shakespearean - characters like Bush, Cheney and the rest don't merit that kind of prominence. But it is a tragedy nonetheless - for us as individuals and a nation. A tragedy that will take a long time to overcome, and that has surely rocked us to our souls.

Huffington Post: Bob Burnett: 2008 The Best & Worst

2008-12-26T09:01:00.012-06:00

In a tumultuous year, ten political events stood out.

The Worst

5. "Just say no." Republican Senators Block Critical Legislation: The 110th Congress saw Republican Senators invoke cloture motions - to limit debate and head off filibusters - a record 138 times, more than double the previous ignominious standard. The do-nothing GOP killed legislation with broad support - bills that had already passed in the House of Representatives - including renewable energy tax credits, a windfall profits tax on oil companies, negotiations with drug companies over Medicare drug prices, DC voting rights, and withdrawal from Iraq. As a result Republicans lost eight Senate seats in the general election.

4. "Gimme the money." Paulson Demands $700 Billion Bailout Blank Check: On September 18th, in a one-page memo to Congress, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed the Troubled Asset Relief Program, demanding $700 billion to purchase mortgage-backed securities, as well as unlimited discretion spending the funds. Congress modified his proposal to release funds in stages and provide oversight. Nonetheless, many believe the TARP program has been a waste of tax-payer funds.

3. "Running on empty." McCain Suspends Campaign: While the conventional wisdom claims John McCain lost the presidential election because of the economy, he failed because he ran a terrible campaign, consistently making bad decisions. In early September, at the end of the Republican convention, McCain was surging: his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate had galvanized the Republican base and some national polls showed him ahead of Obama. Then came the Paulson's TARP proposal, which many Republicans refused to support. McCain "suspended" his campaign to return to Washington and broker a deal. And then did nothing. Instead of being viewed as a strong leader, McCain was revealed as confused and erratic.

2. "He's a terrorist." Palin Accuses Obama of Being a Terrorist: On October 4th, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." This charge, repeated by McCain, prompted shouted death threats at Republican rallies and the waving of pitchforks. While most Americans - and the Secret Service - saw the terrorist charge as contemptible and incendiary, Palin and McCain persisted for more than a week.

1. "I'm the decider."Economy Slides into Recession, Bush Does Nothing: For the first six months, President Bush pronounced the American economy "sound" and spurned calls for action. In mid September, Bush reversed course declaring the US was on the brink of economic collapse. On December 1st, economists announced what most Americans had known already, the economy had been in recession since December of 2007. First Bush lied and then he panicked.

The Best

5. "No McCain." Clinton Endorses Obama: After a sometimes bitter campaign, where Hillary Clinton continued her candidacy long after most observers had written her off, Democrats worried the New York Senator might offer only a half-hearted endorsement of Barack Obama. On August 26th, speaking at the Democratic Convention, Clinton strongly supported Obama giving one of the most memorable speeches of her career.

4. "I can see Russia from my house."Tina Fey Mimics Sarah Palin: In 2008 Saturday Night Live reinvented itself as a bastion of political comedy. Tina Fey's dead on imitation of Palin mocked Alaska's Governor as a vapid airhead totally unprepared for the vice-presidency.

3. "Respect, Empower, Include." Obama's Field Organization From the Iowa caucuses on January 3rd to the twenty-five-state get-out-the-vote effort on November 4th, Barack Obama put together the most impressive field organization ever seen in U.S. politics. First, Obamacons took down Hillary Clinton, the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Then they defeated John McCain, despite his despicable attempt to label Obama a terrorist and closet Muslim. On Election Day, Obama won the critical swing states because he had a ground game and McCain didn't. American politics will never be the same.

2. "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog." Bush insulted by Iraqi journalist: In a vain effort to resurrect his reputation, George Bush took a December "victory" tour of Iraq. In the middle of a Baghdad press conference, where he touted the "success" of his strategy, Bush was the target of two shoes thrown by Iraqi journalist Muntathar al Zaidi, who cursed him in Arabic. The incident symbolized Bush's Iraq legacy.

1. "Yes we can." Obama wins Presidency: When was the point you knew Barack was going to be America's 44th President? Was it after his Iowa victory? Or when it became clear he had out-organized Hillary? Was it his speech on race? Or when we knew Obama was going to win all the debates because of his thoughtful, unflappable demeanor? Or did you bite your nails until the evening of November 4th, expecting something awful to happen that would snatch victory from his grasp? However you experienced the campaign, Barack Obama Obama's candidacy was an once-in-a-lifetime political thrill; capped by his dazzling victory speech on November 4th. We can and we did.

A Holiday Message From President-elect Obama

2008-12-25T10:04:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T07:57:00.001-06:00

Melissa Etheridge: The Choice is Ours Now

2008-12-23T14:14:00.003-06:00

This is a message for my brothers and sisters who have fought so long and so hard for gay rights and liberty. We have spent a long time climbing up this mountain, looking at the impossible, changing a thousand year-old paradigm. We have asked for the right to love the human of our choice, and to be protected equally under the laws of this great country. The road at times has been so bloody, and so horrible, and so disheartening. From being blamed for 9/11 and Katrina, to hateful crimes committed against us, we are battle weary. We watched as our nation took a step in the right direction, against all odds and elected Barack Obama as our next leader. Then we were jerked back into the last century as we watched our rights taken away by prop 8 in California. Still sore and angry we felt another slap in the face as the man we helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to address the world at his inauguration.

I hadn't heard of Pastor Rick Warren before all of this. When I heard the news, in its neat little sound bite form that we are so accustomed to, it painted the picture for me. This Pastor Rick must surely be one hate spouting, money grabbing, bad hair televangelist like all the others. He probably has his own gay little secret bathroom stall somewhere, you know. One more hater working up his congregation to hate the gays, comparing us to pedophiles and those who commit incest, blah blah blah. Same 'ole thing. Would I be boycotting the inauguration? Would we be marching again?

Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night. I'd agreed to play a song I'd written with my friend Salman Ahmed, a Sufi Muslim from Pakistan. The song is called "Ring The Bells," and it's a call for peace and unity in our world. We were going to perform our song for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a group of Muslim Americans that tries to raise awareness in this country, and the world, about the majority of good, loving, Muslims. I was honored, considering some in the Muslim religion consider singing to be against God, while other Muslim countries have harsh penalties, even death for homosexuals. I felt it was a very brave gesture for them to make. I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night... Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, "Are you really about peace or not?"

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families.

Happy Holidays my friends and a Happy New Year to you.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men and women... and everyone in-between.
This is a message for my brothers and sisters who have fought so long and so hard for gay rights and liberty. We have spent a long time climbing up this mountain, looking at the impossible, changing a thousand year-old paradigm. We have asked for the right to love the human of our choice, and to be protected equally under the laws of this great country. The road at times has been so bloody, and so horrible, and so disheartening. From being blamed for 9/11 and Katrina, to hateful crimes committed against us, we are battle weary. We watched as our nation took a step in the right direction, against all odds and elected Barack Obama as our next leader. Then we were jerked back into the last century as we watched our rights taken away by prop 8 in California. Still sore and angry we felt another slap in the face as the man we helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to address the world at his inauguration.

I hadn't heard of Pastor Rick Warren before all of this. When I heard the news, in its neat little sound bite form that we are so accustomed to, it painted the picture for me. This Pastor Rick must surely be one hate spouting, money grabbing, bad hair televangelist like all the others. He probably has his own gay little secret bathroom stall somewhere, you know. One more hater working up his congregation to hate the gays, comparing us to pedophiles and those who commit incest, blah blah blah. Same 'ole thing. Would I be boycotting the inauguration? Would we be marching again?

Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night. I'd agreed to play a song I'd written with my friend Salman Ahmed, a Sufi Muslim from Pakistan. The song is called "Ring The Bells," and it's a call for peace and unity in our world. We were going to perform our song for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a group of Muslim Americans that tries to raise awareness in this country, and the world, about the majority of good, loving, Muslims. I was honored, considering some in the Muslim religion consider singing to be against God, while other Muslim countries have harsh penalties, even death for homosexuals. I felt it was a very brave gesture for them to make. I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night... Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, "Are you really about peace or not?"

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families.

Happy Holidays my friends and a Happy New Year to you.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men and women... and everyone in-between.

U.S. Economy Shrinks as IMF Warns of a Second Great Depression

2008-12-23T09:44:00.003-06:00

LONDON (AFP) – The US economy shrank by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Tuesday as Britain edged ever closer to a recession and the IMF's top economist warned of a second Great Depression.

The abrupt contraction of gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's largest economy, confirming a first estimate, was seen by analysts as marking the start of a steep downturn for the United States after GPD growth of 2.8 percent in the second quarter.

Britain's economy also shrank by 0.6 percent in the three months to September compared to the previous quarter, against a previous estimate of 0.5-percent contraction, the Office for National Statistics said.

Britain and the United States will be in recession if their economies contract again in the fourth quarter, according to the traditional definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

The IMF's top economist, Olivier Blanchard, warned governments around the world should boost domestic demand in order to avoid a Great Depression similar to the downturn that shook the world in the 1930s.

"Consumer and business confidence indexes have never fallen so far since they began. The coming months will be very bad," Blanchard said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.

"It is imperative to stifle this loss of confidence, to restart household consumption, if we want to prevent this recession developing into a Great Depression," he added.

New data out in France offered some respite from the gloom, however, showing that household consumption of manufactured goods -- a key growth indicator -- rallied 0.3 percent last month after slumping in October.

"It is a first small Christmas present for the French economy," said Alexander Law, an economist at the Xerfi research centre in Paris.

But in Italy, retail sales figures went down 0.3 percent in October.

Denmark's economy contracted 0.4 percent in the third quarter and the Dutch economy showed zero growth, official data showed. Finland's unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in November from 5.8 percent a month earlier.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Polish central bank cut its key lending rate by 75 basis points to 5.00 percent, following a further cut in interest rates in Hungary on Monday by half a percentage to 10.0 percent.

The European Central Bank issued some heartening pre-Christmas data showing that the eurozone's current account deficit narrowed to 6.4 billion euros (9.0 billion dollars) in October from 8.8 billion euros in September.

News of weakening growth sent the British pound sliding under 1.0550 euros, nearing a record low of 1.0463 reached last week, as dealers bet on more interest rate cuts from the Bank of England and forecast parity with the euro.

The dollar also drifted lower against the euro and the yen in muted trading conditions ahead of the Christmas holidays. In late morning trading, the euro firmed to 1.3959 dollars, from 1.3944 dollars in New York late on Monday.

European stocks rose in early afternoon trading after the announcement of US GDP figures, with the FTSE 100 index in London up 0.80 percent, the Frankfurt Dax up 0.89 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.51 percent.

Asian stocks closed mostly down, with the Hong Kong stock market shedding 2.8 percent and Shanghai sinking 4.55 percent as a smaller-than-expected Chinese interest rate cut failed to boost market sentiment.

Oil prices also fell further to below 40 dollars a barrel in Asian trade, with New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, shedding eight cents to 39.83 dollars a barrel.

The contract had fallen to 39.91 dollars in New York on Monday.

Energy analysts were also keeping a close eye on a meeting of key world gas exporters in Moscow amid fears of a "gas OPEC" similar to the Vienna-based oil cartel that could raise natural gas prices.

In a keynote speech, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the conference that the "era of cheap gas" for consumers was coming to an end because of the expense of developing new fields.

Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said: "We see in this forum an opportunity to build a solid organisation, which has in its foundation the same principles that gave birth to OPEC."

Black poet and Obama friend, Elizabeth Alexander chosen as Inaugural Poet

2008-12-23T05:56:00.003-06:00

Barack Obama has chosen Elizabeth Alexander to read a poem at his inauguration. A well-regarded poet and professor at Yale, Alexander is also a friend of the Obama family. She will be just the fourth "inaugural" poet, joining Robert Frost, who read "The Gift Outright" at Kennedy's inauguration, Maya Angelou, who read "On the Pulse of Morning" at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, and Miller Williams who read "Of History and Hope" at Clinton's second.

There will, no doubt, be some talk about Obama passing on more prominent poets to select a friend, but in many ways, the choice makes sense. Alexander is something of a reflection of Obama: she is of his generation; she has written on many of his themes; and it's clear from her poetry that she, too, is an intellectual. The Times Book Review described her work as "intellectual magic." As far as I know, she has not written a poem on arugula.

Alexander will reportedly take on the daunting task of composing a poem for the occasion. To get an idea of how difficult it can be for a poet to write a public, occasional poem, you need only look at how British laureates--obligated to write such poems for the royal family--tend to flounder at the task despite being great poets in their own right. If you're brave (or just sadistic), take a look at the poem current laureate Andrew Motion wrote for Prince William's 21st birthday.

Alexander already has her doubters. George Packer, who is against the idea of a poem being written for and read at the inauguration at all--except, conceivably, by Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott--wrote in the New Yorker:

Obama's Inauguration needs no heightening. It'll be its own history, its own poetry.

Playing up the nepotism angle, Packer goes on to compare Alexander's qualifications with Carolyn Kennedy's qualifications for Senate. He fails to mention that her last book came within a breath of winning the Pulitzer Prize.

Despite the pressure, Alexander told NPR that while she feels challenged, she does not feel scared.

"In that moment, really I am the vessel for the poem," she says. "It's not about the poet at that moment, it's about the poem. So the pressure -- the challenge -- is to write a poem that can serve ... all of those expectant, gathered millions and to let the poem be what calms my nerves when I am up there. To let myself remember that I am there to deliver these words and these words have been commissioned to deliver a very, very amazing moment."

Packer may be right that the audience on the mall will be thinking of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and that any poet not named Wolcott, in comparison, will fall flat. Or maybe the (true) story will get out that Alexander's parents brought her--when she was just one year old--down to the mall to hear Dr. King deliver his speech. Maybe the audience will recognize that Alexander and Obama both must owe some part of their own flourishing--as many of us do--to that great moment of cultural poetry, such that even if the poem doesn't match the power of great political oratory, the symbolism will. Regardless, I look forward to her giving it a whirl.

Graywolf Press, which publishes Alexander's work, will print a chapbook featuring the poem. And you can read Alexander's poems (or listen to her read them) on her website here.

Environmental activist throws Utah oil and gas drilling leases auction into chaos

2008-12-22T05:51:00.003-06:00

SALT LAKE CITY — An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.

The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.

"He's tainted the entire auction," said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

Hoffman said buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids if they think they paid too much.

Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student, said his plan was to disrupt the auction and he feels he accomplished his goal.

DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels, auction records show, and drove up the price of several other pieces of land.

"I thought I could be effective by making bids, driving up prices for others and winning some bids myself," the Salt Lake City man said.

Some bidders said they were forced to bid thousands of dollars more for their parcels, while others fumed that they lost their bids.

"We were hosed," said Jason Blake of Park City, a consulting geologist who was outbid on a 320-acre parcel. "It's very frustrating. I hope the guy is prosecuted."

Several bidders said they hadn't decided whether they would withdraw their bids. Some said they may reluctantly hold on to their leases _ despite the higher cost _ out of concern that the parcels might not go up for auction again under President-elect Barack Obama's administration.

BLM criminal investigators questioned DeChristopher, who says he expects to be charged. He was released and the case was referred to federal prosecutors for possible fraud charges, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.

"I'm willing to deal with that," DeChristopher said.

Other bidders at the auction had complained about DeChristopher as unfamiliar and bidding in an unconventional fashion, which raised suspicions, said Terry Catlin, leader of the BLM's Utah Energy Team.

DeChristopher snapped up 22,500 acres of land around Arches and Canyonlands parks but said he could afford to pay for only a few of those acres. He owes $1.7 million on all of his leases.

The sale of the leases has drawn complaints from environmental groups and scathing criticism from actor Robert Redford.

Activists said the sale would threaten Utah's wild lands and spoil the view from some of the state's spectacular national parks with drilling rigs.

"If we're going to sacrifice public lands, let's do it with some deliberation, not in a hasty way," said Joseph Flower, a University of Utah biology student who was among about 100 protesters outside the auction.

The bureau already had pulled some parcels from the sale in response to complaints from the National Park Service and others. Ultimately, the agency dropped more than half the 359,000 acres first proposed for auction.

Selma Sierra, who heads the BLM in Utah, said only 6 percent of lease parcels would ever see drilling because of the "costly and speculative" nature of the business. The federal government also typically imposes environmental safeguards on drilling parcels, Sierra said.

"Facts of the lease sale have been mischaracterized in the public forum, sowing confusion and misunderstanding," Sierra said.

Conservation groups sued Wednesday challenging 80 of the 132 lease parcels set to go up for bid, but the groups reached an agreement with the BLM one day later allowing the auction to go forward, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

The agreement filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., stipulated that the government wouldn't issue leases on the 80 parcels for 30 days, giving a federal judge time to consider whether to block the leases.

Pastor Rick Warren compares gay marriage to liking pizza

2008-12-21T08:27:00.012-06:00

First he condemns my loving relationship with my partner by placing it in the same category with pedophilia and incest, but now in an interview with Anne Curry for NBC's Dateline, he trivializes it by likening the love between gays to his love for pizza.

In an interview with Ann Curry on NBC’s Dateline, Evangelist Preacher, Rick Warren, who is set to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration, equated gays getting married to eating pizza everyday.

“Mr. Warren’s relating gays to pedophiles, incest and gay marriage to his incessant craving of sex with women he was not married to caught me a little off guard.,” said Ms Curry, “But after the camera stopped filming he went on to make the comparison of gays to pizza, I must say, I was startled.”

“Just because I like pizza it doesn’t mean I should marry it,” said Warren. “Biologically, I am predisposed to enjoy the immaculate melding of mozzarella cheese, red sauce and thick crust baked to tasty perfection. But that doesn’t mean I should enter into a lifelong commitment with Sicilian or plain, nor bed it down, nor bring children into the world and have them have to explain to their classmates why their mom’s crust is not as crisp as it once was. Does any child deserve to have their friends tossing Monday 2 for 1 coupons in his face? Not in my world they don’t. Yet, to say that I am against pizza-eaters or gays is absurd. Our Saddleback Church offers more weight-watchers meetings to overeaters than any other evangelical megachurch on the west coast.”

Just in case you missed it, Pastor Rick, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy , God condemns "pizza", (more specifically the eating of meat and dairy products together), as an abomination. So I guess that means we're both f**ked.

Caroline Kennedy the Democratic version of Sarah Palin???

2008-12-21T06:22:00.002-06:00

From the Huffington Post by Chris Kelly

Brent Bozell III, president of numerous organizations he founded himself, is a guy with -- what's the nicest way to say this? -- limited intellectual gifts. That doesn't slow him down, though, and you've got to admire him for that. He makes up for being sort of a slow coach by being irate all the time. He can perform basic conservative TV pundit functions because he knows he's mad about something. He's got a bee in his bonnet, providing the buzzing sound in his head, and having all that empty space to echo off of just makes it louder.

The force that drives the water through the rocks drives the blood to his face. And the blond beard sets it off so unpleasantly, too, like a certain amount of cat hair on a slice of ham.

He's not afraid to stand athwart history and yell "Huh?"

So there's probably not much thought behind his feelings about Caroline Kennedy, but he does get to say them on the TV, and here they are:

"Caroline Kennedy, God love her, has zero public experience, and I'm putting every single one of my liberal friends out there who spent the last four months trashing Sarah Palin, I'm putting them on notice that they better have something to say about this woman."

I like the cruel sarcasm of "my liberal friends." He doesn't have any friends, and he knows you know it.

But what about his challenge? How can we call Caroline qualified after everything we said about Sarah Palin's inability to put her glasses on the front part of her head instead of the back without the aid of a stylist?

Is Caroline Kennedy really better suited for high office than Sarah Palin?

Let's see.

One of them has a law degree from Columbia and has co-written two critically acclaimed books about the Bill of Rights, one specifically about the Fourth Amendment. The other has a journalism degree from college in general and had this conversation with Katie Couric:

Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?

Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.

Couric: (That's) the cornerstone of Roe v. Wade.

Palin: I do. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that.

I know that was months ago, but my head still hurts. Palin is fanatically anti-abortion, but she obviously knows less about the legal arguments for and against Roe than she knows about life on other planets. She doesn't know that the right to privacy implied -- but not stated -- by the Fourth Amendment is an argument for abortion rights. And beyond that, she doesn't comprehend that a Constitutional right applies to you whether your mayor thinks it does or not. To understand the Constitution less than that you'd have to be a monkey.

I'm gonna have to go with Caroline Kennedy.

--

The other difference -- and I'm trying to think of how to put this in words short enough for Brent Bozell to understand -- is that Caroline Kennedy and Sarah Palin are/were up for different jobs. Senator and Vice President are different jobs. Different. Senator. Vice President. Not same job. Not.

Sarah Palin wanted to be Vice President. If we followed the Constitution, and not just the parts people in different constituencies would like to see ushered in on an issue like that, her place in the line of presidential succession would look like this:

1- President of the United States
2- Miss Wasilla

Caroline Kennedy wants to be the junior Senator from New York State. If we were to chart her place in the line of Presidential succession it would look something like this...

1- President of the United States (dead or incapacitated)
2- Vice President of the United States (dead)
3- Speaker of the House of Representatives (dead)
4- President pro tempore of the Senate (dead, or however you want to describe Robert Byrd)
5- 15 cabinet members (dead or in jail)

Okay, now it gets tricky. Let's say something horrible happened in Washington. Everyone has the mumps, or Keanu Reeves crushes them with a spaceship or something. If the Speaker of the House dies, Congress elects a new one. If that person dies, or whatever, Congress votes again. And again. All they need is a quorum. So they can theoretically keep replacing the Speaker until there are only 217 congresspersons left. So let's put them here...

6- 216 Congresspersons

If we run out of congresspersons, we go to whoever the Senate elects as the new President pro tempore. By ancient tradition, the President pro tempore is always the most senior senator of the majority party. We don't know exactly who will make up the Democratic majority in the next Senate. (Al Franken will never concede in Minnesota, who knows what's going to happen in Illinois and Obama seems to want to put every other sitting Democrat in the cabinet.) But anyone who was there before Caroline would be senior to her. So all off them.

7- Every other Democrat in the Senate
8- Caroline Kennedy and other appointees (tied)

I think that puts Caroline less than 280 heartbeats away from the presidency.

And all she has is a lifetime of public service and a background in constitutional law.

Can we afford to take that risk?

Huffington Post: Robert Redford on stopping Bush's destruction of our environment

2008-12-20T09:46:00.006-06:00

Bush has given authorization for the sale of land along this beautiful wilderness in Utah known as "Desolation Canyon" to be used for oil and gas extraction. Just one of the many "parting gifts" we have received from our lame duck president. But environmentally aware individuals like Robert Redford are working to stop Bush and his rape of our beautiful wilderness lands.

Democracy is working. At least that's the news for now from my friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has filed a lawsuit against last-minute Bush administration plans to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in Utah for oil and gas extraction.

Late last night, NRDC and a coalition of environmental and preservation groups filed an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management that could save 100,000 acres of pristine land that are endangered. The deal temporarily prevents the Bureau from issuing leases on 80 contested parcels of Utah wilderness, including land adjacent to national parks, for 30 days (until January 19).

Although the Bureau will go forward with the auction today, based on the agreement it will not issue the contested leases. The delay will give a federal court time to hear the case.

As I've written previously, words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.

Utah's Red Rock country is one of America's few remaining wilderness treasures. It's our land, it's our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren?

The Bureau's agreement has delayed the potential destruction. We will now get our day in court and I know that NRDC, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and their partners will continue to do all they can to protect Utah's unspoiled landscapes.

Global Warming concerns reflected in new Obama cabinet picks

2008-12-20T06:15:00.005-06:00

The Bush "reign of terror" doesn't end with the economy or his inept and dangerous foreign policies. It has been evident in his lack of concern and/or interest in the environment. Obama is making it clear that environmental issues are a top priority in his administration and his concern is reflected in two of his new cabinet choices.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Harvard physicist John Holdren and marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to top science posts, signaling a change from Bush administration policies on global warming that were criticized for putting politics over science.

Both Holdren and Lubchenco are leading experts on climate change who have advocated forceful government response. Holdren will become Obama's science adviser as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Lubchenco will lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees ocean and atmospheric studies and does much of the government's research on global warming.

Holdren also will direct the president's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. Joining him as co-chairs will be Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander, a specialist in human genome research.

"From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we had leaders who paved the way," Obama said in announcing his selections in his weekly radio address. "Leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process."

"Because the truth is that promoting science isn't just about providing resources — it's about protecting free and open inquiry. It's about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology," he said. "I could not have a better team to guide me in this work."

In their posts, the four scientists will confront challenges in global warming after years of inaction by the Bush administration, which opposed mandatory cuts of greenhouse gas pollution. Last year, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona testified to Congress that top Bush administration officials often dismissed global warming as a "liberal cause" and sought to play down public health reports out of political considerations.

Since 1993, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas, and global warming is accelerating. The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has already pushed past the level some scientists say is safe.

Holdren, 64, is a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington who has pushed for more urgent action on global warming. As Obama's top science adviser, he would manage about 40 Ph.D-level experts who help shape and communicate science and technology policy.

Colleagues say the post is well-suited for Holdren, who at Harvard went from battling the spread of nuclear weapons to tackling the threat of global warming. He's an award-laden scientist comfortable in many different fields.

"Global warming is a misnomer. It implies something gradual, something uniform, something quite possibly benign, and what we're experiencing is none of those," Holdren said a year ago in a speech at Harvard. "There is already widespread harm ... occurring from climate change. This is not just a problem for our children and our grandchildren."

Lubchenco, an Oregon State University professor specializing in overfishing and climate change, will be the first woman to head NOAA. A member of the Pew Oceans Commission, Lubchenco has recommended steps to overcome crippling damage to the world's oceans from overfishing and pollution and has expressed optimism for change once President George W. Bush leaves office.

"The Bush administration has not been respectful of the science," she said earlier this year. "But I think that's not true of Republicans in general. I know it's not. I am very much looking forward to a new administration that does respect scientific information and that considers it very seriously in making environmental policies."

Varmus, who was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for his research on the causes of cancer, served as National Institutes of Health director during the Clinton administration. A former medical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, he helped found the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention and chairs a scientific board at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lander, who teaches at both MIT and Harvard, founded the Whitehead Institute-MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990, which became part of the Broad Institute in 2003. A leading researcher in the Human Genome Project, he and his colleagues are using the findings to explore the molecular mechanisms behind human disease.

In his radio address, Obama said he planned early next year to more closely address the issue of engaging the nation's technology community to "harness technology and innovation to create jobs, enhance America's competitiveness and advance our national priorities."

"It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and work to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

California Attorney General urges court to void gay marriage ban

2008-12-19T23:54:00.001-06:00

SAN FRANCISCO – The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters.

But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon further reflection and a deeper probing into all the aspects of our Constitution.

"It became evident that the Article 1 provision guaranteeing basic liberty, which includes the right to marry, took precedence over the initiative," he said in an interview Friday night. "Based on my duty to defend the law and the entire Constitution, I concluded the court should protect the right to marry even in the face of the 52 percent vote."

Brown, who served as governor from 1975 to 1983, is considering seeking the office again in 2010. After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he personally voted against it but would fight to uphold it as the state's top lawyer.

He submitted his brief in one of the three legal challenges to Proposition 8 brought by same-sex marriage supporters. The measure, a constitutional amendment that passed with 52 percent of the vote, overruled the state Supreme Court decision last spring that briefly legalized gay marriage in the nation's most populous state.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the attorney general's change of strategy "a major development."

"The fact that after looking at this he shifted his position and is really bucking convention by not defending Prop. 8 signals very clearly that this proposition can not be defended," Minter said.

The sponsors of Proposition 8 argued for the first time Friday that the court should undo the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters banned gay marriage at the ballot box last month.

The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief telling the court that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.

"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and a former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.

Both Brown and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.

Starr's co-counsel Andrew Pugno said Brown's decision to challenge the voter-approved measure and the argument advanced by the attorney general was "totally unprecedented."

"His legal duty as attorney general of the state is to defend initiatives passed by the voters," he said.

The state Supreme Court could hear arguments in the litigation in March. The measure's backers announced Friday that Starr had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.

Huffington Post: Cenk Uygur: Not a word on gay marriage until they execute an adulterer

2008-12-19T15:43:00.004-06:00

The religious right picks and chooses which parts of the Bible they want to apply. And they choose based on which outsider group they would like to hate next. First, they emphasized slavery in the Bible when they wanted to hate black people. Now, they emphasize the parts condemning homosexuality so they can hate gay people.

They are completely and utterly disingenuous. They don't mean a word of it. They don't give a damn what the Bible says. They just want to use it as an instrument of hate.

The Bible says eating shellfish is an abomination. Yet there are no Red Lobster Amendments. The Bible says you shall not wear two different types of cloths at the same time. Yet there are no Propositions against cotton and wool combos.

The Bible says you should leave your family and join Jesus Christ. The religious right pretends that Jesus was about family values. He wanted you to abandon your family. Read the Bible.

The religious right pretends that the Bible says marriage is between one man and one woman. But that is a bald faced lie. Have any of these people ever read the Bible? The Bible is full of men taking on second wives, servants, prostitutes and concubines. And all the while, God heartily approves. How many wives did King David have? Eight? Twelve? Let alone his possibly gay lover, Jonathan.

Now the Bible says that a man shall not lie with another man. That is true. But it also says, in the same exact book, that adultery is an abomination. And the just punishment for this sin is execution. So, who will execute the first adulterer? Please step on up. May the one without any Biblical sin cast the first stone.

Here is a question no one can answer -- and lucky for the right wing, the media never bothers to ask -- why do you only focus on the part of the Bible against homosexuality but not on the part against adultery? It's one thing to say you're against adultery; it's another to take away their rights. How come no religious figure in this country has mounted a campaign to take away the rights of adulterers? Let alone execute them.

I'll tell you why. Because there are too many of them. Their followers are adulterers. They don't make for good scapegoats. They are not an easy target to ostracize and focus your hatred on. Gays are perfect. They are a small enough percentage of the population and different enough from the rest of us to be able to get people to focus their negative, barbaric instincts on them. The Bible is only a tool for this tribal, ugly tactic.

But I am tired of hearing people saying that homosexuality is a sin in the Bible when they never quote the rest of the Bible (probably because a great majority of church goers have never independently read the Bible or they have built up a reservoir of excuses for the parts they find inconvenient). So, from now, I would like to tell the Rick Warrens of the world, you are perfectly allowed to say how much you would like to take gay people's rights away from them based on the Bible so long as you agree to do one thing first -- execute an adulterer.

If you can do that for me, then I'll believe that you actually believe in the Bible literally and will accept your literal argument against homosexuality. Fair is fair. Step on up.

PS -- In case anyone is a maniacal literalist, please do not actually attempt to execute any adulterers or anyone else. Check yourself into a mental hospital instead because the seven headed dragon in Revelations could be out to get you.

Obama may have to do some serious damage control on this one

2008-12-19T12:43:00.005-06:00

I admit it, I may have jumped a little quick to the defense of Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inaguration. After listening to the opinions of both sides, I was finally swayed to the "anti-Warren" side by the following letter from HRC chairman, Joe Solomnese.

Washington Post
Obama's Inaugural Mistake
By Joe Solmonese
Friday, December 19, 2008;

It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot-on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign's response to the anger about this decision? Hey, we're also bringing a gay marching band. You know how the gays love a parade.

Yes, the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of the humongous, evangelical Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., has a sound message on poverty. And certainly, in the world of politics, there is a view that Barack Obama owes Warren for bringing him before fellow evangelicals, despite fierce opposition during the heat of the presidential campaign.

But here's the other thing about Warren, the author of the bestselling book "The Purpose Driven Life": He was a general in the campaign to pass California's Proposition 8, which dissolved the legal marriage rights of loving, committed same-sex couples.

For that reason, inviting Warren to set the tone at the dawn of this new presidency sends a chilling message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. It makes us uncertain about this exciting, young president-elect who has said repeatedly that we are part of his America, too.

We understand that the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a civil rights icon and a dear friend of LGBT Americans, will close the inauguration ceremony. But would any inaugural committee say to Jewish Americans, "We're opening with an anti-Semite but closing the program with a rabbi, so don't
worry?"

It is likely that one of two scenarios played out during behind-the-scenes inaugural planning, both of them equally troubling. The first possibility is that it was suggested that Warren is the correct voice to lead the inauguration because his selection would send a message of inclusion to evangelicals. And when someone at the table said, "Gay America will be offended by that choice," the quick answer was, "That's fine, we'll deal with it. We invited the gay marching band."

The second possibility is that no one at the table had a clue about Warren's anti-gay views and that the Obama team has been stunned by the broad and loud objections to the choice. That's not encouraging, either.

What the Obama team needs to understand is that for many LGBT Americans, this November was bittersweet. We were thrilled with Obama's victory and, in fact, many of us worked the phones, pounded the pavement and wrote checks to make that happen. But the next day, we learned that Proposition 8 passed in California, and our hearts sank. It was the biggest loss our community has faced in decades.

One of the biggest reasons for that hurtful outcome was the Rev. Rick Warren, who publicly endorsed Proposition 8 in late October. He told his parishioners and reporters alike that "any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn't think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships." But civil marriage rights for same-sex couples had nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

President-elect Obama must now, as my mother used to say, put some meat on the bone.

We've seen appointment after appointment of talented Americans who come from constituencies that are part of this country and helped win his election. Well, we're one of those constituencies who actually worked and voted for Obama, unlike Warren and probably most of his 21,000 parishioners. Yet, we're the ones left waiting for some real evidence of inclusion.

So, are we angry about Rick Warren? You bet we are. And including a gay marching band in the inaugural festivities doesn't heal this wound. It only serves to make us question the promises that Barack Obama made in his historic quest to be president. We pray we weren't misled.

After 232 years the only thing that has changed are the faces

2008-12-19T06:04:00.004-06:00

This is the opening scene from the 1972 hit Broadway musical "1776" starring William Daniels as the impatient and exasperating John Adams. Listen to the sound scolding he gives to Congress as they "piddle twiddle" and accomplish nothing. Absolutely nothing has changed today save the fashions and the faces.

Huffington Post: Warren and the bad old days...

2008-12-18T22:22:00.005-06:00

This is an excellent article in the Huffington Post about Obama's pick of Rick Warren to lead the invocation at the inauguration ceremonies. It really puts the whole thing into perspective. GO AND READ!
And then go read about the real crime that was committed against women today by our current president.

Obama defends choice of evangelical pastor

2008-12-18T11:02:00.007-06:00

You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality. ~ Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the USA, 1856-1924

I have to respectfully disagree with the HRC and PFAW on this issue. I am a bi-sexual woman in a committed relationship with a woman and I whole-heartedly support equality in marriage. And although I don't agree with anything that Warren stands for, I believe that our President-elect is being true to his word regarding reaching out to all Americans--even the ones with whom we disagree. He sets an example for us all, challenging us to "come to the table" and work things out, and his tone of extending the olive branch encourages me, as well as assures me that if he can act in this manner towards Americans with whom he does not agree, then he can and will do the same with other nations with whom we have issues. This action demonstrates that he truly seeks to be the "People's President".

"Come now, and let us reason together", says the Lord... ~Isaiah 1:18

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his choice of a popular evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, rejecting criticism that it slights gays.

The selection of Pastor Rick Warren brought objections from gay rights advocates, who strongly supported Obama during the election campaign. The advocates are angry over Warren's backing of a California ballot initiative banning gay marriage. That measure was approved by voters last month.

But Obama told reporters in Chicago that America needs to "come together," even when there's disagreement on social issues. "That dialogue is part of what my campaign is all about," he said.

Obama also said he's known to be a "fierce advocate for equality" for gays and lesbians, and will remain so.

Warren, a best-selling author and leader of a Southern California megachurch, is one of a new breed of evangelicals who stress the need for action on social issues such as reducing poverty and protecting the environment, alongside traditional theological themes.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization, said Warren's opposition to gay marriage is a sign of intolerance.

"We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination," the group said in a letter to Obama, asking him to reconsider.

Obama's selection of Warren is seen as a signal to religious conservatives that the president-elect will listen to their views. During the campaign, Warren interviewed Obama and Republican John McCain in a widely watched television program that focused on religious concerns.

Gay rights advocates say they are troubled that Obama would give Warren such a visible role at his swearing-in. "By inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table," the letter said.

Obama, however, pointed out that a couple of years ago, he was invited to speak at Warren's church, despite their disagreements on a number of issues.

The president-elect said a "wide range of viewpoints" will be presented during the inaugural ceremonies.

Should Dick Cheney be tried for war crimes?

2008-12-18T05:28:00.002-06:00

Watch this video and consider...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2008: Barack Obama

2008-12-17T15:25:00.003-06:00

You probably sat in a fancier conference room the last time you refinanced or heard a pitch about life insurance. There's a table, some off-brand mesh office chairs, a bookcase that looks as if it had been put together with an Allen wrench and instructions in Swedish.

To reach this room, you pass through a cubicle farm lightly populated by quiet young people. Either they have just arrived or they are just leaving, because their desks are almost bare. The place has a vaguely familiar feel to it, this air of transient shabbiness and nondescriptitude. You can't quite put your finger on it ...

"It's like the set of The Office," someone offers.

Bingo.
Click here for the rest of the article

Sexism in the news media

2008-12-17T07:03:00.004-06:00

This is an amazing video. If you don't think that sexism is still a serious problem in this country, then you need to watch this. What was even more shocking is how our news media perpetuates it. And to my surprise, some of the biggest offenders are members of the liberal media. It blew me away.

Slimeball of the Week: Bernard L. Madoff

2008-12-17T06:14:00.002-06:00

This guy makes Martha Stewart's "crimes" look like cotton candy, and yet I doubt he'll serve one hour of prison time. Just goes to prove that you have to be one of the "big boys" to be above the law.

WASHINGTON – In a stunning rebuke, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman blames his career regulators for a decade-long failure to investigate Wall Street money manager Bernard L. Madoff, now accused of running one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever.

On Tuesday night, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox ordered an internal investigation of what went wrong and offered a scathing critique of the conduct of his staff attorneys. He said they never bothered to seek a formal commission-approved investigation that would have forced Madoff to surrender vital information under subpoena. Instead, the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.

Credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff's financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999 were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, said Cox.

Shock waves from the Madoff affair have radiated around the globe as a growing number of prestigious charitable foundations, big international banks and individual investors acknowledge falling victim to an unprecedented fraud. Madoff remains free on $10 million bail.

"I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them," Cox said in a written statement.

The SEC chairman said Madoff kept several sets of books and false documents, and provided false information involving his investment advisory activities to investors and to regulators.

Separately, Stephen Harbeck, chief executive of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, said one set of Madoff's books kept track of the losses at his investment advisory arm, while the other is what investors were shown.

SIPC, created by Congress and funded by the securities industry, can give customers up to $500,000 if it is determined their money was stolen. SIPC has about $1.6 billion to make payouts, which means that amount could quickly be depleted in the Madoff case where losses could reach $50 billion. That figure comes from the SEC's court complaint, which quotes Madoff admitting to losses in that amount to two senior employees of his firm before his arrest last Thursday.

Cox's harsh assessment may have the effect of shifting questions away from the politically appointed five-member commission and placing blame squarely — if not solely — on the agency's staff for failing to aggressively pursue a massive fraud.

Cox's statement is sure to fuel a new criticism of the SEC, an agency increasingly seen in Congress and elsewhere as incapable of carrying out its basic mission: to ensure a basic level of honesty on Wall Street.

Cox spelled out the taint produced by the previous failure to aggressively pursue Madoff: The SEC commission chairman ordered removal from the Madoff criminal investigation of any SEC staff members who have had contact with the prominent Wall Street figure or his family.

Cox's strong statement came as at least two senators signaled they have lost patience with the SEC.

"They were asleep at the switch," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said of the SEC's failure to uncover Madoff's alleged fraud.

As Grassley had urged, Cox ordered the SEC's inspector general to conduct the internal probe of his agency's inaction.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the problems go much deeper.

The Madoff affair "illustrates the lack of credible enforcement over several years by the SEC," said Reed, who chairs the Senate banking panel that oversees the SEC. He criticized the agency's "lack of a strong commitment to be vigilant."

Shortly before Cox denounced his own staff, a widely respected former SEC chief accountant, Lynn Turner, aired her own skepticism. "I can't comprehend how a well-run investigation would have missed a fraud of this magnitude," Turner said.

The Madoff scandal is just the latest instance in which SEC regulators have overlooked clear warning signs of possible fraud.

An earlier review by the SEC inspector general determined that the agency's monitoring of the five biggest Wall Street firms, which included Bear Stearns, was lacking.

Cox himself has come in for strong criticism.

In March, a few days before Bear Stearns nearly collapsed into bankruptcy, Cox told reporters the agency was closely monitoring the five investment firms and had "a good deal of comfort" in their capital levels. Then, as federal officials orchestrated the rescue, Bear Stearns was bought by rival JPMorgan Chase with a $29 billion government backstop.

As for Madoff, the SEC's enforcement division looked into Madoff's business last year. Until Tuesday night, the SEC had refused to criticize the inaction that followed last year's probe.

Damaging the SEC's credibility in the Madoff case was the fact that a securities executive, Harry Markopolos, complained to the SEC's Boston office in May 1999. Markopolos told the SEC staff they should investigate Madoff because Markopolos felt it was impossible for the kind of profit he was reporting to have been gained legally.

But the SEC's Boston office has itself been accused in the past of brushing off a whistle-blower's legitimate complaints, in a case that led the head of that office to resign in 2003. The whistle-blower, Peter Scannell, eventually persuaded state regulators and the SEC to act against mutual fund giant Putnam Investments, where Scannell worked.

"It's flabbergasting that nobody can nail the bums in the SEC who turn their back on and/or aid and abet people who defraud investors," Scannell said in a telephone interview Monday.

Obama focuses on broken education system

2008-12-16T06:09:00.002-06:00

Just another one of the many broken and shattered institutions left for Obama to clean up after the Bush "reign of terror".

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama intends to name a big-city schools chief, Chicago's Arne Duncan, to help fix the country's ailing schools as education secretary, people familiar with the decision said.

Duncan has run the country's third-biggest school district since 2001, pushing to boost teacher quality and to improve struggling schools and closing those that fail. Student test scores have risen significantly during Duncan's tenure.

One of the schools Duncan turned around — Dodge Renaissance Academy, which he shut and then reopened on Chicago's West Side — was chosen as the backdrop for Obama's announcement Tuesday. Obama and Duncan visited the school together in 2005.

The individuals who confirmed the selection of Duncan on Monday spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama had not made the decision public.

A 44-year-old Harvard graduate, Duncan has played pickup basketball with Obama since the 1990s. Duncan co-captained the Harvard basketball team and played professionally in Australia before beginning his education career.

He ran a nonprofit education organization on Chicago's South Side before going to work in Chicago schools under former superintendent Paul Vallas, now the New Orleans schools chief.

Duncan's nomination will please reform advocates who wanted a big-city schools chief who has sought to hold schools and teachers accountable for student performance; they had backed Duncan or New York's Joel Klein.

These advocates have squared off against teachers' unions in a contentious debate among Democrats over whom Obama should choose. Unions, an influential segment of the party base, wanted a strong advocate for their members such as Obama adviser Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor.

Yet Duncan's nomination may please the unions, who have said Duncan seems willing to work with them.

"Arne Duncan actually reaches out and tries to do things in a collaborative way," Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, said in an interview earlier this month.

Obama managed during his campaign to avoid taking sides in the debate, which centers on accountability and the fate of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law. Duncan also has tried to appeal to both factions; he signed competing manifestos from each side earlier this year.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which must confirm the education nominee, called Duncan a consensus candidate.

"Arne has been a pragmatic and effective leader of Chicago's schools," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a written statement. "He's brought people together to address difficult challenges and expand opportunities so that every child can succeed."

House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., called Duncan "a very good choice for school reform and our schoolchildren."

"He is an experienced and accomplished leader who is open to new ideas for improving our schools," Miller said in a statement.

The choice of Duncan answered those who had wondered whether the investigation of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich might hurt the chances of a Cabinet contender from the same state.

As for the governor, Obama told a news conference Monday that an internal investigation by his transition team shows that he had no direct contact with Blagojevich about the appointment of a replacement for Obama in the Senate and that his transition aides did nothing inappropriate. Blagojevich, who has the sole authority to appoint Obama's successor, was charged last week with putting the Senate seat up for sale.

Obama promised to release the results of the transition's investigation but said federal prosecutors asked him to hold off until next week to avoid compromising their investigation of Blagojevich.

Obama also introduced his environment and energy team, including Steven Chu as energy secretary, Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Carol Browner as his energy and climate "czar" and Nancy Sutley to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

In the education debate, the competing sides differ over the degree to which teachers and schools should be held accountable for how well kids learn and over the role test scores in measuring that.

Central to the dispute: No Child Left Behind, the law that has grown as unpopular as Bush, the lame-duck president who championed it.

The reform group agrees with the law's general principle of penalizing schools where test scores fail to improve, although nearly everyone sees some problems with the law. The union coalition says test scores aren't the only measure and that factors beyond the classroom affect how well kids learn.

___

Associated Press writers Libby Quaid and Liz Sidoti reported from Washington.

It's official

2008-12-15T18:34:00.004-06:00

The 538 members of the Electoral College cast their votes today and officially made Barack Hussein Obama the 44th President of the United States. Now all the right-wing extremist, racist, homophobic, skinhead, freakoids can stop holding their breath.

Investigation of Obama team reveals no inappropriate contact with Blagojevich

2008-12-15T15:14:00.005-06:00

Not that I expected anything less from our President-elect and his team...

WASHINGTON – An internal review shows aides to President-elect Barack Obama had no "inappropriate discussions" with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich or his staff concerning the search for a Senate replacement from Illinois, a spokesman for the presidential transition office said Monday.

But spokesman Dan Pfeiffer also said the office won't release details of its review until the week of Dec. 22 at the request of prosecutors "in order not to impede their investigation of the governor."

That's Christmas week, when few people will be paying attention and when Obama plans to be celebrating the holiday in Hawaii — not in Chicago, which has been the focal point of the federal investigation.

The U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The brief statement did not address several issues raised over the past week since the criminal complaint against the governor was filed.

It did not say whether Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, was heard on a wiretap providing the governor's top aide with a list of names that the president-elect favored. Nor did it say who, if anyone, on Obama transition's team had made contact with the governor or his aides concerning a replacement for Obama.

In the statement, Pfeiffer said that incoming White House counsel Gregory Craig has kept federal prosecutors informed of the internal review "in order to ensure our full cooperation with the investigation" into allegations against the governor.

Pfeiffer said the review "affirmed the public statements of the president-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the president-elect's staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as U.S. senator."

Obama resigned his Senate seat last month to prepare for taking the oath of office as president. Blagojevich, who has the power to appoint a replacement, was arrested last Tuesday on charges he schemed to sell the seat in exchange for money or political favors for himself or his wife.

The president-elect quickly told reporters that he never personally spoke to Blagojevich about who would fill the seat he resigned to take over the presidency next month. A top Obama aide who had said in November that Obama had spoken to the governor quickly issued a statement saying he had been mistaken in the TV interview.

On Thursday, Obama, who has promised transparency, said he had ordered an internal review of whether his staff had any involvement in the scandal and promised divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich's office in a matter of days.

"What I want to do is to gather all the facts about any staff contacts that may have taken place between the transition office and the governor's office," Obama said at the time. "And we'll have those in the next few days, and we'll present them. But what I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any dealmaking around my Senate seat. That I'm absolutely certain of."

But since then, Obama's staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like how long the review would take, who was leading it and what issues were explored.

Two people who have been briefed on the investigation had told The Associated Press that Emanuel is not a target of the probe. They spoke on a condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation is ongoing. One is a person close to Emanuel, who said he has been told by investigators that he's not a subject of their probe.

There are no suggestions that Obama or his aides were involved in the alleged sale of his seat. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has said prosecutors were making no allegations that Obama was aware of any scheming. And Blagojevich himself, in taped conversations cited by prosecutors, suggested that Obama wouldn't be helpful to him and called him a vulgar term. Even if the governor was to appoint a candidate favored by the Obama team, Blagojevich said, "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation."

Wanda Sykes is excited that we're going to have some "action" in the White House

2008-12-15T06:07:00.002-06:00

Bush gets "the boot"

2008-12-14T17:18:00.004-06:00

BAGHDAD – On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference.

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog!" shouted the protester in Arabic, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.

"It was a size 10," Bush joked later.

The Credit Card Industry: The day of reckoning

2008-12-14T07:36:00.004-06:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. credit card industry, harshly criticized for imposing surprise fees and interest rate hikes on consumers, may face a day of reckoning on Thursday..

The Federal Reserve is to vote on credit card reforms that may bring some relief to customers who face a variety of ways for being hit with late fees, universal defaults, shorter payment periods and confusing payment allocations for different balances.

Credit card users likely also would see easier-to-read tables in their monthly statements as a result of the changes.

The new rules, which were proposed earlier this year, are expected to total some 1,000 pages. They need approval of the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, which all are expected to act on Thursday.

Consumer groups say practices of credit card companies blindside consumers and U.S. lawmakers have threatened legislation if regulators did not use their consumer protection powers to reform the industry.

With Democrats strengthening their control of the next Congress that convenes in January and the financial services sector in turmoil, credit card companies that resisted the changes increasingly have accepted them as inevitable.

They have warned that interest rates charged on credit cards will rise for all borrowers and that borrowing limits may be reduce because of the changes.

The industry maintains that credit cards provide a service to consumers with convenience and sometimes free loans.

"The new rules will be a challenge to the business," said Peter Garuccio, director of public relations at the American Bankers Association trade group.

POTENTIAL SWEEPING IMPACT

In 2007, Americans were using an estimated 694.4 million credit cards with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover logos, according to the Card Industry Directory.

Banking regulators have been using focus groups to test the impact of changing credit card rules for the past couple of years and on Thursday are expected finalize some changes.

They are expected to prohibit credit card companies from increasing rates at will, with some exceptions such as those that apply to people who fail to pay a bill within 30 days.

So-called universal default, which permits changing card terms if the borrower defaults on another bill such as utilities or a gym membership, also is expected to be banned.

Double-cycle billing, in which card companies reach back to earlier billing cycles to help calculate interest charged in the current cycle, also is expected to be eliminated.

With the U.S. economy in recession, the market that trades in credit card asset-backed securities faces increasing stress as more consumers fall behind on payments.

As delinquencies and charge-offs -- balances written off as uncollectible -- on credit cards rise, investors demand higher yield spreads for credit card-backed securities.

The ABA represents the biggest issuers of Visa and MasterCard. Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase enjoyed almost 70 percent of the credit card market at the end of 2007, according to the Card Industry Directory.

(Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Culture in the White House

2008-12-13T08:28:00.005-06:00

In a December 7, 2008 Meet the Press interview, President-elect Obama discussed the importance of emphasizing culture in the United States by featuring art, music, and science in the White House. Could this be the end of the dumbing-down era in our country? Let's pray so! A new day is dawning for America!

Today in History: December 13th

2008-12-13T08:01:00.000-06:00

Newsweek: Gay Marriage: Our Mutual Joy

2008-12-12T17:12:00.004-06:00

COVER STORY: GAY MARRIAGE
Our Mutual Joy

Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.
By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK

Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?

Of course not, yet the religious opponents of gay marriage would have it be so.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Tom D'Antoni: Finally: The Death of "Greed is Good"

2008-12-12T05:51:00.006-06:00

By Tom D' Antoni of the Huffington Post

It's not all about the Benjamins anymore, baby.

Although it is still the defining principle in many people's lives, the concept that "Greed is Good," is dead. It rose to its despicable zenith in tandem with the rise of Reagan, and has been the guiding principle of industry, finance and government ever since.

Greed has been with us since the dawn of time and will remain, but in cyclical bursts, greed destroys enough to make those in the path of the inevitable result of unchecked greed take notice and do something about it.

Like regulations on how much greed is allowed.

Greed brought us to this place...unregulated, untrammeled, vicious greed. Greed has no morals or ethics. Greed has no regard for others. Greed feeds only the greedy and feeds on every thing and every one within grasping distance.

This Christmas Eve there will be no ghosts of the past, Christmas or otherwise, disturbing the sleep of the greedy. The greedy will be in danger of losing a percentage of their riches as a result of their greed. The rest of us feel a primal danger, one that most of us have never felt.

Yes, fear is upon the land. The fear of not being able to keep a roof over your head. Of not knowing where to turn when you watch your sources of income fall, one after another in the twinkling of an eye.

The week before the crash of 2008, I had been hired to write industrial presentation scripts for a company which was very successful at making them. They told me I could expect maybe five a week, if I could handle that. I assured them I could. That was on a Thursday, as the stock market crashed.

The following Monday went by without a word. Then Tuesday. I emailed them on Wednesday and got a worrisome replay on Thursday that said, "Stuff is hitting the fan this week. Clients are pulling out before the initial interview. Waiting for news, as far as what the fallout is, but things are much different than just two weeks ago. I'm sorry Tom... I'll give you news as I get it."

I replied, "That was one chilling email." The reply? "Word."

On Thursday, I got an email which said that the company had lost so much of its upcoming business over the past week that would not need my services. Two weeks later another company, for whom I had been writing for a year-and-a-half fired my editor and was going to re-think its whole operation. I'm still waiting for my last check from them.

My story is being repeated over and over throughout America. The root of our misery is greed and the greedy.

And President Obama says it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The safety net is in place for the greedy who caused this mess. Where is the safety net for the rest of us? There is no place under the TARP for us to get out of the rain and cold.

The Greed Is Good pack are thieves. They've stolen our money, our hope and any sense of safety we had. And then we rewarded their greed with more money.

It's a cliché to some of us, others may have never heard it, but I will paraphrase Woody Guthrie who said, "Some will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen."

Or a handful of keystrokes.

For now, the concept that "Greed Is Good," has been discredited and for at least the next four years, we will have an executive branch of government which at least considers the rest of us.

Jon Stewart takes on Mike Huckaby over Gay Marriage

2008-12-11T18:27:00.001-06:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Stephen Colbert's a freakin' genius

2008-12-11T06:10:00.000-06:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Many Guises of Stephen Colbert

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Slimeball of the Week: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

2008-12-10T10:32:00.002-06:00

When are assholes like this guy gonna learn that people simply aren't going to put up with this crap anymore?

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich returned to work on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested and accused of scheming to enrich himself by selling President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Blagojevich (bluh-GOY'-uh-vich) is out on bond and has denied any wrongdoing.

The governor left his home on Chicago's North Side early Wednesday and waved to the media before quickly getting into a dark SUV without talking to the reporters.

A short time later, Blagojevich's SUV arrived at his office.

"He is still the sitting governor of Illinois today, now, and that is not something we have any say in or control of," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in unveiling corruption charges on Tuesday against the 52-year-old governor.

The governor's attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, said Tuesday he didn't know of any immediate plans for the governor to resign. Blagojevich believes he didn't do anything wrong and asks Illinois residents to have faith in him, Sorosky said.

"I suppose we will have to go to trial," he said.

Blagojevich could still appoint someone to fill Obama's seat despite the charges that he tried to barter it away for cash or a plum job in what Fitzgerald called "a political corruption crime spree."

But it would take a lot of nerve and Blagojevich would have to hurry because state lawmakers are racing to snatch away his power to appoint a new senator and put it in the hands of voters.

"No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement," U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday after the governor, a second-term Democrat, was arrested on charges of conspiring to commit fraud and soliciting bribery.

Until state lawmakers call a special election, though, Blagojevich still has the power to fill the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Obama.

Obama was not accused of any wrongdoing.

"I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not I was not aware of what was happening," Obama said. "And as I said, it's a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don't think it's appropriate to comment."

Prosecutors stepped in and had the governor arrested because he was on "what can only be called a political corruption crime spree," Fitzgerald said.

Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he is prepared to call the Illinois House into session as early as Monday to set a special election to fill the seat. Illinois Senate President Emil Jones said he had something similar in mind.

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made it plain he didn't want to seat anyone under such a cloud, saying the charges "are appalling and represent as serious a breach of the public trust as I have ever heard."

Charged along with Blagojevich was his 46-year-old chief of staff, John Harris, who was accused of taking part in the schemes to enrich the governor.

The FBI said in court papers that Blagojevich was overheard conspiring to sell the Senate seat for campaign cash or lucrative jobs for himself or his wife, a real estate agent. He spoke of using the Senate appointment to land a job with a nonprofit foundation or a union-affiliated group, and even held out hope of getting named Obama's secretary of health and human services or an ambassador.

According to court papers, the governor tried to make it known through emissaries, including union officials and fundraisers, that the seat could be had for the right price. Blagojevich allegedly had a salary in mind — $250,000 to $300,000 a year — and spoke of collecting half-million and million-dollar political contributions.

"I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden," prosecutors quoted Blagojevich as saying about the Senate appointment on federal bugs in his campaign office and wiretaps on his home telephone, "and I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I'm not gonna do it."

Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant said even seasoned investigators were stunned by what they heard, particularly since the governor had known for at least three years that he was under investigation for alleged hiring fraud and clearly realized agents might be listening in.

Besides scheming to swap or sell the Senate seat, Blagojevich — a former congressman, state lawmaker and prosecutor — was accused of trying to strong-arm the Chicago Tribune into firing editorial writers who had called for his impeachment. He also was accused of using the governor's power over state business to raise campaign funds.

Nothing in the court papers suggested Obama had any part in the discussions about selling the Senate seat or even knew of them. In fact, Blagojevich was overheard complaining at one point that Obama's people are "not going to give me anything except appreciation." He added: "(Expletive) them."

Blagojevich was charged with two counts: conspiracy to commit fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and solicitation to commit bribery, which is punishable by up 10 years. He was released on his own recognizance following an afternoon hearing.

Blagojevich becomes the latest in a long line of Illinois governors to become engulfed in scandal. He was elected in 2002 as a reformer promising to clean up after Gov. George Ryan, who is serving six years in prison for graft. He was re-elected to another four-year term in 2006.

Long before Blagojevich faced criminal charges, his most vocal critics already discussed impeachment, citing a long list of potentially unconstitutional moves, slights to the General Assembly and ethics violations.

Impeachment is a two-step process. First, the Illinois House would consider whether there were grounds for impeachment, much like a grand jury deciding whether someone should be brought up on criminal charges. If a majority of the House voted yes, then the Senate would hold a trial.

It takes a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict, and the only possible punishments are removal from office and disqualification from holding any other office.

___

Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills in Springfield, Ill., contributed to this report.

Day Without a Gay

2008-12-10T05:46:00.007-06:00

SAN FRANCISCO - Some homosexual marriage supporters are urging people to "call in gay" Wednesday to show how much the country relies on homosexuals, but others question whether it's wise to encourage skipping work given the nation's economic distress.

Organizers of "Day Without a Gay" -- scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants -- also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Sean Hetherington, a West Hollywood comedian and personal trainer, dreamed up the idea with his boyfriend, Aaron Hartzler, after reading online that a few angry homosexual-rights activists were calling for a daylong strike to protest California voters' passage last month of Proposition 8, which reversed this year's state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex "marriage." The couple thought it would be more effective and less divisive if people were asked to perform community service instead of staying home with their wallets shut. Dozens of nonprofit agencies, from the National Women's Law Center in Washington to a Methodist church in Fresno collecting food for the homeless, have posted opportunities for volunteers on the couple's website.

"We are all for a boycott if that is what brings about a sense of community for people," said Hetherington, 30, who plans to spend Wednesday volunteering at an inner-city school. "You can take away from the economy and give back in other ways."

Hetherington said he's been getting 100 e-mails an hour from people looking for volunteer opportunities, and that his "Day Without a Gay" website has gotten 100,000 hits since mid-November.

Despite Hartzler and Hetherington's attempt to fashion a positive approach, some organizers of the street demonstrations that drew massive crowds in many cities last month have been reluctant to embrace the concept, saying that it could be at best impractical and at worst counterproductive to "call in gay."

"It's extra-challenging for people to think about taking off work as a form of protest, given that we are talking about people who may not be out [as gay] at work, and given the current economic situation and job market," said Jules Graves, 38, coordinator of the Colorado Queer Straight Alliance. "There is really not any assurance employers would appreciate it for what it is."

Graves' group nonetheless is arranging for interested participants to volunteer at the local African Community Center in Denver. The agency said it could find projects to keep 20 people busy, but so far only 10 have pledged to show up, said Graves.

Scott Craig, a fifth-grade teacher at Independence Charter School in Philadelphia, had no problem requesting and being granted the day off. So many of the school's 60 teachers were eager to show support for homosexual rights they had to make sure enough stayed behind to staff classrooms. About 25 teachers plan to take Wednesday off and to have their work covered by substitutes while they discuss ways to introduce homosexual issues to their students and volunteer at the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Craig said. A letter telling parents why so many teachers would be out went home Monday.

"We want to get the conversation going in the community that gay is not bad," Craig said. "For kids to hear that in a positive light can be life-changing."

Join The Impact, the online community that launched protests last month over the passage of same-sex marriage bans in California, Florida, and Arizona, has urged people to withdraw $80 from their bank accounts Wednesday to demonstrate gays' spending power, and to devote the time they might otherwise spend watching TV or surfing the Internet to volunteer work.

Witeck-Combs Communications, a public relations firm in Washington that specializes in the the homosexual market, published a study this year that estimated that those consumers spend $700 billion annually.

More "sexual jihadist" activity, don't you know?

On a personal note, I'm not calling in Gay today because I could lose my job for it. So I'm showing my support by "shouting it out" here on my blog.

Pat Boone compares Prop 8 protesters to terrorists in Mumbai

2008-12-09T07:04:00.006-06:00

Remember when Jerry Falwell blamed the 9/ll attacks on feminists and homosexuals? Well, dear old Pat's singing the same song in an article for WorldNet Daily.

Are you unaware of the raging demonstrations in our streets, in front of our churches and synagogues, even spilling into these places of worship, and many of these riots turning defamatory and violent? Have you not seen the angry distorted faces of the rioters, seen their derogatory and threatening placards and signs, heard their vows to overturn the democratically expressed views of voters, no matter what it costs, no matter what was expressed at the polls? Twice?

I refer to California’s Proposition 8. You haven’t heard about the well-oiled campaign to find out the names of every voter and business that contributed as much as $1,000, or even much less, in support of Prop 8? You haven’t heard about the announced plans to boycott, demonstrate, intimidate and threaten each one - because they dared to vote to retain marriage as between one man and one woman? You haven’t seen, on the evening news, prominent entertainers and even California Gov. Schwarzenegger, urging the demonstrators on, telling them they should “never give up” until they get their way?

Assuming you have become aware of all this, let me ask you: Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what’s happening right now in our cities?

Oh, I know the homosexual “rights” demonstrations haven’t reached the same level of violence, but I’m referring to the anger, the vehemence, the total disregard for law and order and the supposed rights of their fellow citizens. I’m referring to the intolerance, the hate seething in the words, faces and actions of those who didn’t get their way in a democratic election, and who proclaim loudly that they will get their way, no matter what the electorate wants!

What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists.

So my committed partner and I are now "sexual jihadists". Gotta love the comparison. Interesting stance for a guy who posed for this photo a while back:

Click on the photo to enlarge in order to read the text.

What is it that they say about people who live in glass houses, Pat?

No review of Obama's eligibility

2008-12-08T20:25:00.002-06:00

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth. The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election.

Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth — his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject — he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.

At least one other appeal over Obama's citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and Hawaii officials have confirmed.

Berg says Obama also may be a citizen of Indonesia, where he lived as a boy. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg's lawsuit. Federal courts in Ohio and Washington state have rejected similar lawsuits.

Allegations raised on the Internet say the birth certificate, showing that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is a fake.

But Hawaii Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino and the state's registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, say they checked health department records and have determined there's no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.

The nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org examined the original document and said it does have a raised seal and the usual evidence of a genuine document.

In addition, Factcheck.org reproduced an announcement of Obama's birth, including his parents' address in Honolulu, that was published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961.

(This version CORRECTS that Hawaii officials, not secretary of state, confirmed Obama birth certificate.)

What a bunch of desperate, sore losers...

Obama supports laid-off workers' sit-in

2008-12-08T05:59:00.004-06:00

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama is weighing in on behalf of workers staging a sit-in on the factory floor of their former Chicago employer to protest abruptly losing their jobs last week.

Obama told a news conference Sunday that Republic Windows and Doors should follow through on its commitments to the 200 workers, who say they won't leave the plant until they are assured they'll receive their severance and vacation pay.

"The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right and understand that what's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy," Obama said.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan also said her office was investigating the company, which has not commented on the sit-in.

To their amazement, the workers have become a national symbol for thousands of employees laid off nationwide as the economy continues to sour.

"We never expected this," said Melvin Maclin, a factory employee and vice president of the local union that represents the workers. "We expected to go to jail."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered turkeys, pledging the support of his Chicago-based civil rights group, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

"These workers deserve their wages, deserve fair notice, deserve health security," Jackson said. "This may be the beginning of long struggle of worker resistance finally."

Leah Fried, an organizer for the United Electrical Workers union that represents the workers, said the company told the union that Bank of America has canceled its financing. The bank had said in a statement that it wasn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees.

One of the factory's workers, Silvia Mazon, said in Spanish that she needs the money owed to her for an $1,800 monthly house payment. The 40-year-old from Cicero said she has enough money saved to survive for one month.

"We're making history," she said.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, called it the start of a movement. "This story has resonated around the world," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott in Chicago contributed to this report.

Pearl Harbor: The Battleship Oklahoma

2008-12-07T17:31:00.000-06:00

Nevada Class Battleship: Displacement 27,500 Tons, Dimensions, 583' (oa) x 95' 3" x 29' 7" (Max) Armament 10 x 14"/45 21 x 5"/51, 2 x 21" tt. Armor, 13 1/2" Belt, 18" Triple Turrets, 16" Dual turrets, 3" Second (armor) Deck, 2 1/2" Third (splinter) Deck 16" Conning Tower. Machinery, 24,800 IHP; 2 vertical, Triple expansion engines, 2 screws. Speed, 20.5 Knots, Crew 864.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York, Shipbuilding, Canden, NJ., October 26, 1912. Launched March 23, 1914. Commissioned May 2, 1916. Decommissioned (War Loss). Stricken September 1, 1944.

Fate: Sunk by Japanese aircraft during attack on Pearl Harbor Hawaii, December 7, 1941. Her hulk was raised in 1943, Sold for scrap December 5 1946. Hulk sank while under tow to breakers, 540 miles NE, Pearl Harbor, May 17, 1947. 20 Officers and 395 Men were lost with the ship and remain on duty.

Welcome to my new blog!

2008-12-07T17:07:00.000-06:00

I'm excited to start my newest blog, this one being dedicated completely to politics. My title is derived from the fact that I'm a liberal Democrat living in the reddest, Republican state in the U.S., and my posts will consist of politics, current events, news, and my perspective regarding issues such as the current economic crisis, LGBT issues, history, world news, and other related topics.

Obama suggests some auto execs should lose their jobs

2008-12-07T15:18:00.000-06:00

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama announced support Sunday for a short-term government bailout of the nation's carmakers that is tied to industry restructuring. He also accused auto executives of a persistent "head-in-the sand approach" to long-festering problems.

Obama said Congress was doing "the exact right thing" in drafting legislation that "holds the auto industry's feet to the fire" at the same time it tries to prevent its demise.

In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" and later at a news conference, Obama at one point suggested some executives should lose their jobs.

One leading Democrat in Congress, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, was far blunter. Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of General Motors Corp., "has to move on," said Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

The criticism of industry leaders deepened as negotiators for the White House and Congress narrowed their differences over a plan to extend roughly $15 billion in short-term loans to any Detroit automaker that needs it. Analysts say General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, in particular, are at risk for running out of money in the next few weeks, and that Ford Motor Co. may need help if the economy deteriorates further.

Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, whose state is ground zero for the battered industry, said he was confident an agreement would emerge within the next day.

Democratic leaders have said they hope to pass the measure this week. While Levin declined to predict its approval, support among rank-and-file lawmakers presumably would improve dramatically if both White House and Obama were to signal their backing once the legislation is complete.

"The last thing I want to see happen is for the auto industry to disappear, but I'm also concerned that we don't put $10 billion or $20 billion or $30 billion or whatever billion dollars into an industry, and then, six months to a year later, they come back hat in hand and say, `Give me more,'" Obama said.

Obama, who takes office Jan. 20, has drawn some criticism from Democrats who want him to become more involved in efforts to save the industry. The president-elect said his aides are monitoring developments and considering longer-term plans.

He expressed no support for calls to allow the big carmakers to enter bankruptcy and said, "We don't want government to run companies." Instead, he said, "if taxpayer money is at stake — which it appears may be the case — we want to make sure that it is conditioned on an auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works, that actually functions.

"Taxpayers, I think are fed up. They're going through extraordinarily difficult times right now."

Obama did not single out any individual executive by name for criticism, and said there had been incremental progress in the past 15 years toward a more competitive line of products.

"What we haven't seen is a sense of urgency and the willingness to make tough decisions. And what we still see are executive compensation packages for the auto industry that are out of line compared to their competitors, their Japanese competitors, who are doing a lot better," he said.

Asked whether the top executives should remain in the jobs, he said, "Here's what I'll say, that it may not be the same for all the companies. But what I think we have to put an end to is the head-in-the-sand approach to the auto industry that has been prevalent for decades now."

Later, at the news conference, he appeared to temper his comments, saying that current management should be ousted if it doesn't understand the urgent need to make changes in the industry.

A breakthrough on the long-stalled rescue came Friday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, yielded to President George W. Bush on a key point: allowing the aid to come from an existing fund set aside for the production of environmentally friendlier cars.

The Big Three executives spent two consecutive days on Capitol Hill this past week pleading for as much as $34 billion in loans to help their industry survive. But they made clear that $15 billion would be enough to keep them running until the end of March 2009.

Dodd appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and Levin was on "Fox News Sunday."

__

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this story.

Prop 8: The Musical

2008-12-04T14:51:00.000-06:00

A funny and rather irreverent look at bigotry.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

A message from a former Republican to the Republican Party

2008-12-03T14:58:00.000-06:00

When I registered to vote in 1978, at the age of 18, I registered as a Republican. I remained a Republican until four years ago, when I changed my registration to the Democratic party, just prior to the 2004 elections. My reasons for changing parties? One simple reason--you have forgotten who you are and who you represent, and that you are bound to the principles upon which this nation was founded, of liberty and equality for all, no exceptions.

You have forgotten the "People" in "We The People" and have abandoned your defense of and duty to the great Constitution of the United States of America for "the win", even at the cost of the freedom, liberty, and equality that our Constitution guarantees each and every citizen of this great nation. You have allied yourselves with and identified as the "base" of your once great party, the Christian Religious Right, and abandoned the principles of the separation of church and state for theocratic dominionism. Your abandonment of the principles laid out in The Establishment Clause found in the First Amendment of our Constitution has been disatrous for our nation, and if you continue to abandon the Constitution for religious ideology as an essential and central aspect of our laws and foreign policy decisions, it will spell the end of this once great Democratic Republic.

I end this with a quote from one of your party's greatest, Barry Goldwater. *

The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives... We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.

Heed his warning, or your party will fail.

*Thanks to RW

Tulsa turns out for the Nationwide protest against marriage inequality

2008-11-16T15:01:00.000-06:00

Don't tell Tulsans that they're living in the reddest, most socially backwards state in the union! They'll just tell you that it's time for that to change! ROCK ON, TULSA!