...Hundreds of Years after Salem

sheesh

A memoir by George W Bush's former speechwriter claims that Bush administration officials objected to giving JK Rowling a presidential medal of freedom on the grounds that her Harry Potter books "encouraged witchcraft".

According to the liberal American blog Think Progress, Matt Latimer's Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor reveals how politicised the medal, which is America's highest civilian honour, became during the Bush administration.

Latimer, whose memoir was published last week by Crown in the US, says that the "narrow thinking" of "people in the White House" led them "to actually object to giving the author JK Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft". Guardian UK

This is the kind of thing that makes the whole world shake their heads about us.

In good news on the progressive front, Leahy, Dodd and Feingold are about to reopen the big can of spying worms that is American Telecom.

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Russ Feingold (D- WI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced today that they will introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act, which eliminates retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated in President Bush’s warrant-less wiretapping program.

I believe we best defend America when we also defend its founding principles,” said Dodd. “We make our nation safer when we eliminate the false choice between liberty and security. But by granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies who may have participated in warrant-less wiretapping of American citizens, the Congress violated the protection of our citizen’s privacy and due process right and we must not allow that to stand.

This is good news, made my day. We should all get behind this, write these three senators and express our support. Write all the other senators and urge their support of this bill that reasserts the constitutional rights of the American people, who by the way are their bosses.

While the western (GOP paid for media) was kind, it seems that reviews from locals in the Asia and Hong Kong Press told a different story.

according to Kent Ewing in the Asia Times;

...Hong Kong's Chinese-language press were downright dismissive in their coverage of the visiting American luminary. "Palin Gives Speech in Hong Kong, Called Boring, Members of the Audience left early" was how a headline in the popular Ming Pao newspaper summarized Palin's re-emergence on the world stage.

Asia News International, a multimedia news agency based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, reported widespread criticism of the speech in an article headlined "Palin's pitch leaves Hong Kong investors unimpressed”.

"Several members of the audience described the speech as 'long, humorless and George W Bush-like'," ANI said.

ANI also described the walk-out mentioned in the Ming Pao headline, with those leaving complaining of the partisan political nature of the speech and saying they had "more important things to do".

At least this side of the planet has some sense. (ps. is that not the cutest bored baby photo ever?)

I always hated it when the left or right said things like Bush was as bad as the Nazis or Obama is a facist.

Bush was bad, yes. His instincts and morals may have been similar to Hitler, but he did not set out to exterminate a whole group of people and he did NOT kill 6 million people in the attempt.

I am now frustrated by the meme "Obama is no better than Bush."

He is disappointing to us, and frustrating and certainly these are serious times and we are not getting the change and help we voted for on crucial issues. Yes I am angry about extension of the patriot act, the lack of real reform a full year after the economic crisis began the waffling on the public option. But surely we can talk about those things without meaningless comparisons to Bush.

Bush took us into and illegal unjustified war. He lied and lied and lied to the american people. He bankrupted our country turning a huge surplus into an even more huge debt. He started down the slippery slope of spying on Americans. He funded all his buddies at blackwater etc. etc. He is and was certainly worse than President Obama on almost every level.

It is a stronger more compelling argument, in my opinion, to talk about what is actually happening and how angry you are, strategist on what we can do and how we can do it, rather than resort to hyperbole and meaningless comparisons to Nazis, fascists, Bush-ites, etc. etc. Let's have a real argument about what is going right and wrong under this administration and leave the meaningless, fanatical exaggeration to the other side. That kind of rhetoric is weak and for the non-thinkers and irrational.

My two cents (yen) for the day.

Posted via email from littlestgator's posterous

The unemployment rate is still bad, but if you are under 25 it is disastrous. The young folks coming out into the world cannot get work. No one is filling, hiring for, or creating entry level positions and this is having a huge effect.

From RICHARD WILNER at the NYPost (yeah I know it's the post, but...)

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving out of their parents' houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession -- in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

These kids are not going to be able to set up their own homes or apartments, so will not be out there buying cars or furniture or other larger ticket items. Slowing the economy even further. And the effect to their self esteem and to their careers over the long term can be significant. This is why things like Americorps are so much more important! And the stimulus and a lot of the other job- creation initiatives that the conservatives attack.

The Post piece goes on to say that the chronically unemployed figure (27 weeks or more) has also gone higher than any time since after WWII. Sounds like we are no where near sorting out the jobs and stability issues.

Combine this with the effect that budget cuts are having in our education system and the problems created by wall-street-greed look like that are going to impact us for a good 20 years or more. Schools are cutting all kinds of programs because they can't cover costs, class sizes ballooning again, experienced teachers being laid off, so the group coming up behind this new unemployed group is going to be in even worse shape. What a mess.

Apparently Ms. ex-gov- Palin is waxing philosophical about the kind of change she can bring outside of those pesky job responsibilities as a governor. Or even as a part of one of the two major political parties! I am hearing 3-rd-party-palin music building in the background. She is calling herself a "Common Sense Conservative" I can see the campaign buttons now... Perhaps this little closed door speech was a kick of to the split that we've all seen coming between the greedy-gop and the bat-shit-crazy gop.

According to The Swamp,

There is suddenly a growing sentiment to just "throw the bums out" of Washington, D.C. - and by bums they mean the Republicans and the Democrats,'' Palin's comments and facebook page (now 900,000 strong) include the following thoughts;

Palin suggested in her address to the CLSA investors conference.

"Americans are suffering from pay cuts and job losses, and they want to know why their elected leaders are not tightening their belts,'' she said. "There is a growing sense of frustration on Main Street. But even in the midst of crisis and despair, we see signs of hope.

"In fact, it's a sea change in America, I believe,'' she said. "Recently, there have been protests by ordinary Americans who marched on Washington to demand their government stop spending away their future. Large numbers of ordinary, middle-class Democrats, Republicans, and Independents from all over the country marching on Washington?! You know something's up!

"These are the same people who flocked to the town halls this summer to face their elected officials who were home on hiatus from that distant capital and were now confronted with the people they represent. Big town hall meetings - video clips circulating coverage - people watching, feeling not so alone anymore.

"The town halls and the Tea Party movement are both part of a growing grassroots consciousness among ordinary Americans who've decided that if they want real change, they must take the lead and not wait to be led. Real change - and, you know, you don't need a title to do it.

Yup apparently she is queen of the tea-party-town-hall-nuts!
2012 here we come!

Posted via email from littlestgator's posterous

that history is never kind to fat troublemakers who try to upend the status quo merely because it has been rigged by a tiny, powerful elite to produce grotesquely unfair and inhumane results for everyone who is not a member of that elite.


Here, one such impudent sassmouth has the temerity to point out to one of our national treasures of journalism that said journalist*

might actually be full of shit.


* A notation for 22nd Century historians:

In 2009 mainstream media political "journalists" were a class of corporate thralls who would go on the teevee machine and demanded that Liberal interviewees respond to mean things which fictional critics might hypothetically say about them at some point in the future.

This profession continued to be an extremely lucrative variation of a mass entertainment genre called "reality teevee" until most of its practitioners were wiped out in 2013 from spontaneous cranial implosion brought on by what was later identified as the C1F2 virus, more commonly called "Future Perfect Conditional Continuous Tense Disorder" or "Fox Disease".

what's up with you?

DFA, TPM and others need to raise 100,000 dollars to keep the pressure on.

None of this is possible without regular folks chipping in. Some have given $100. Others have given $25 or even $10. All of those people deserve our thanks -- because collectively, that will get us to the $100,000 mark and ensure that Snowe knows that her constituents are seeing the ad to the right over and over again.

If you have not yet donated, now's the time.

I don't get it... never did. How the hell are the republicans able to get their base to consistently vote against their own interests. I know sometimes they do it with fear and race and brimstone, but how does that keep working when the evidence of desperate times and broken systems is so damn obvious.

Take this example.

Louisiana.

The experts believe that the unpopularity of President Obama in Louisiana may help (scandal-ridden) Vitter keep his job and get re-elected. The President and his policies are wildly unpopular in Louisiana. And here is the part that kills me,

Though nearly 22 percent of the state’s adult residents have no health insurance — one of the highest rates in the nation — pollsters and political experts say voters in the state are overwhelmingly against Mr. Obama’s health care proposals. NY Times

22% have no health insurance! and I am sure many many more are under-insured or their insurance will be likely to deny their claims when and if they do need to use it and still the winning strategy in Louisiana is to vote NO to everything that the president and the democrats propose. How is that possible. The GOP has failed these people for over 40 years and their situation has gotten steadily worse and not better and still they spit and fume and sputter against anything and everything that might improve their circumstances.

What the hell is wrong with these people? Seriously- can anyone out there give me a decent reason here- and what the hell can we do about this?

Truthandhope.org is working on ads to help in the campaign to overturn prop 8. Here's one about families and grandkids with a great awwww quotient.


help them spread the word.

What's everyone reading right now? I just finished a delightful mystery. It was fun, smart, a little predictable but not in a way that I minded.

It is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. So charming and I am thrilled that he is already working on a second one.

What are you reading? do tell...

Got lots to say, just need to find the time to say it in... meanwhile, what's up with you?

do tell...

SO you may have heard that my favorite Ex-Gov.Beauty-Pagent-Runnerup is headed over to see us in Asia. Sarah "I Quit" Palin is being given a microphone on the international stage as she goes abroad to Hong Kong to give her first speech outside of the USA (unless she cancels -- which is common.)

But Seems like Sarah's handlers are not confident about her on stage presence- and have decided rather last minute that the event will be closed to the media.

Hong Kong - The first keynote speech outside North America by former US vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will be closed to the media, organizers of the Hong Kong event said on Monday.

Palin, mocked during last year's presidential campaign for her lack of experience in foreign affairs and for her verbal gaffes, is due to give the headline address at the CLSA Investors' Forum on September 23. The former Alaska governor will address hundreds of chief executives, fund managers and other financial big-hitters from around the world at the Hong Kong forum.- News24

First of all, they are paying her to talk to these muckity muck bank guys?

Secondly, my fingers are crossed for secret camera coverage. Afterall this is Asia-- there has got to be someone with a tiny video camera they can hide in the glass frames or tie?

from the Times:
Larry Gelbart, the writer whose caustic wit was a creative force behind the enduring success of the television series “M*A*S*H,” Broadway hits like “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and film comedies like “Tootsie,” died Friday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 81.


Sigh.

Hey! you there, whose leadership, courage, art, humor, political/cultural viewpoint I inhaled in the 70's and 80's and who is key to shaping my middled-aged progressive worldview: do me a favor and stay alive, wouldja?

I'm not done learning from you yet.

I am in Austin this week for the DNC meeting, the first full meeting I have had the honor to attend as a new DNC member. On our first night we were invited to a lovely reception at the LBJ Presidential library. It was a really amazing experience.

Looking through the exhibition detailing LBJ's term, and the signs of his time was engaging and educational but the highlight was looking up from the main floor, up the wide marble staircase and seeing the massive wall of windows, four floors, of red binders and gold seals housing all the documents and letters that patched together made the presidency of LBJ. It was humbling, realizing the pressure, the responsibility, the challenges faced by our former Democratic Presidents. It was amazing looking at history in that way.

I want to go and visit all the presidential libraries now-- well maybe just the D libraries.
It also reminded me that we've faced serious challenges before, and we can do it again, especially if we can strike the balance of supporting our president AND pushing him toward making the progressive decisions and choices that we need. He needs our support and our voices. Our criticisms and our support hand in hand.

It will be interesting to look back on the history making moments of this time. I hope we can all say we did what we could to make the changes that we need. Some of you have said that it is his job, they we shouldn't have to fight anymore... I disagree. This is not a white knight situation where we count on one guy to do the job. We've inherited the worst economy, the war, the meltdown health care crisis, and he needs us.

We are not done yet. And I am not giving up. And I don't think that he is either.

SO Glenn Beck's attacks on Van Jones are the beginning and NOT THE END. The goal is to discredit the administraiton. From the inside out. We have to face this down or it is just the beginning of the end.

C&L has it all over here...

And now the president of a new United States:

Terri --

I just finished laying out my plan for health reform at a joint session of Congress. Now, I'm writing directly to you because what happens next is critical -- and I need your help.

Change this big will not happen because I ask for it. It can only come when the nation demands it. Congress knows where I stand. Now they need to hear from you.

Add your voice: Ask your representatives to support my plan for real health reform in 2009.

The heart of my plan is simple: bring stability and security to Americans who already have health insurance, guarantee affordable coverage for those who don't, and rein in the cost of health care.

Tonight, I offered a specific plan for how to make it happen. I incorporated the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans to create a plan that's bold, practical, and represents the broad consensus of the American people.

We've come closer to real health reform in the last few months than we have in the last 60 years. But those who profit from the status quo -- and those who put partisan advantage above all else -- will fight us every inch of the way.

We do not seek that fight, but we will not shrink from it. The stakes are too high to let scare tactics cloud the debate, or to allow partisan bickering to block the path. Your voice, right now, is essential.

See my full plan and call on your representatives to support it:

http://my.barackobama.com/SupportReform

Ours is not the first generation to understand the dire need for health reform. And I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

It's all the same fight, yo. All the same fight. Making the American Way what it could be, should be. Will be. Must be.

Liars don't matter. Call them what they are - he did. Go to the nearest health care event. Go with others: protect, uplift each other. Offline if you can. Online when you can. Let your communities know that the hour is now. We only have a toehold on the discourse. The thugs are just that; thugs, miscreants, the worst people in the world, vicious, fear-filled, lying bullies. We are bound to the truth, to gentleness and justice and a strong community. And we are the hope of the struggling, even if we are struggling ourselves. So if we fight back we will win. Barack has told us plainly: your voice, right now, is essential.

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Aren't you?

Bonus: here's the the President, the Vice President, and the Speaker of the House reacting to the idiot who called the President a liar. This was a speech for serious people. That guy is not serious.

h/t Greg Jones over on Facebook

In a move that highlights just how crazy-marginal-looney-tunes the Republican Party is; they have chosen one of these insane birthers to give the after speech speech tonight following President Obama's address about health care.

Media reports today revealed that Congressman Charles Boustany (R-LA), the GOP’s choice to deliver a rebuttal to President Obama’s address to Congress tonight, promoted misinformation about the President’s birthplace. When asked about the President’s citizenship, Rep. Boustany at one time claimed “I think there are questions. We'll have to see.” He later distanced himself from those remarks. From People For the American Way

Really, they got nothin' left, no one credible to speak to their issues or to offer any sort of honorable opposition debate. I mean, either this guy is as crazy as the rest of the tea-baggers and townhallers OR his is just lying to stir up the wingnut base. Either way, he is pathetic.

"So Glenn Beck is running the White House now? Is that how it’s gonna be?" @baratunde http://tinyurl.com/naew2m

too sad. too true.

Next up on the books is probably going to be immigration. I can't imagine how crazy that one is going to get. But we need to be able to do two things at once or we aren't going to get the fixes we need and fast. We have to work on rebuilding and supporting the unions at the same time. There was a great piece today by Alfredo Gutierrez

his conclusion was this;

Over the years I would become a State Senator, Majority Leader, businessperson, radio talk show host, and the list still grows. I have no doubt that what made the difference in my life, in my father’s life; in the life of millions of Americans was the Union. What made the middle class possible; an education possible was the Union. We will gain immigration reform but we must simultaneously rebuild the union movement in this country or the middle class will be unachievable for millions of new Americans. - By Alfredo Gutierrez / La Frontera Times

but read the whole thing, it is not long and it is very real and inspiring.

According to the AP and Huffpo the Palin stunt and anger fest where she resigned from office has cost the Citizens of Alaska money, and not a little bit either.

Early estimates put the cost of Sarah Palin's midterm resignation as Alaska governor at a minimum of $40,000, not including a special legislative session partly linked to her departure.- RACHEL D'ORO, AP

Though it is less than the VP wardrobe (150,000.00 +) the tallied costs are rising. I expect the above to be adjusted higher as other details come to light. And she ran up this bill while quitting her post and not doing her sworn duty as a representative of the people.

As you may know or remember, I was elected to the DNC. I will attend my first real organized meeting next week. Will post updates and insights from Austin where the meeting is being held. Should be interesting. There are committee and caucus chair elections and the president will be making 75 appointments to the DNC as well (as is traditional.) So there will be politic-ing in our politics for sure.