The Silence Was Deafening

MSNBC Barely Touches Stewart vs. Cramer

By Broadway Carl

Every time someone uses the phrase,"liberal media," I look for the nearest brick wall on which to pound my head against.

In anticipation for the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer knock-down-drag-out, Cramer took to the airwaves of the morning shows in his defense to attempt to rehabilitate his image and rebut his main critic with a specific message: "A comedian’s attacking me. Wow. He runs a variety show." I remember him saying it at least twice. He appeared on the Today show, got Joe Scarborough to shill for him on Morning Joe, and even pounded dough with Martha Stewart.

After the bloodletting, Joe Scarborough was touting an exclusive interview with Cramer on Morning Joke™ using Twitter.



I even got up at an ungodly hour to watch. No Cramer. Then this.



So much for Jim Cramer taking it like a man. Did he no-show or was he cancelled? Maybe the latter.

..."MSNBC producers were asked not to incorporate the Jim Cramer/Jon Stewart interview into their shows today." In fact, the only time it came up on MSNBC was during the White House briefing, when a member of the press corps asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if Pres. Obama watched. Gibbs wasn't sure if the president had, but Gibbs did. "I enjoyed it thoroughly," the Press Secretary said.

Keith... Keith... Why have you forsaken us?

The biggest disappointment in all of this is that the "liberal media" (namely MSNBC according to its detractors) took its marching orders with the culmination of Keith Olbermann completely ignoring what was probably one of the best journalism pieces this short year. Not. A. Word. And the silence was deafening.

Now we all know what side KO's bread is buttered on, but I think this qualified as a pretty big news story and if Olbermann doesn't think he can mention it because of a conflict of interest with separate NBC network entities, then he actually did no better than Jim Cramer.

Luckily, there is still one person on the MSNBC line up that kept her integrity.

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

Yes, Rachel Maddow framed the feature of this "Dust Up!" story in regards to what millions were interested in, in comparison to other newsworthy stories... but she mentioned it. She didn't ignore it like the rest of the day of MSNBC programming, from Morning Joke™ to hours of inane coverage of that missing Halleigh girl to even more news of Anna Nicole Smith two years after her death. That's what they talked about. But something that happened to one of their own in the NBC family? Mum's the word.

Chris Matthews, who got his own drubbing in my opinion with the Ari Fleischer crapfest, ignored it. David Shuster? Did he mention it? Apparently not, since it seems to be the talk of the intertubes that except for Maddow, the Cramer story was ignored (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Let's not forget that this isn't some little side story about television personality rumbles. This was the true outing of the lack of financial oversight and regulations that have put our government in an economic crisis that we all fear, an admission from a former hedge fund manager as to how the inside game is played because the SEC doesn't understand it, as well as a complete deficiency of investigative journalism on the part of the financial "reporters" on financial news networks like CNBC and Fox Business Channel. If they have doubts about a certain company, do they seriously expect a CEO of said company to come on their show for an interview and be honest?

As for Jim Cramer, he was the only other NBC regular that actually mentioned "what happened yesterday" on his Friday broadcast, proving to all that it was going to be "business as usual" on his show, bell, whistles, red buttoned sound effects, plastic sledgehammers and all. So much for the promise of change, Mr. Cramer. So much for the promise of change.

Excuse me while I go find a brick wall.

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Pictures of Bevin: remembering my friend

Originally posted March 8, 2005. Yesterday marked five years since Bevin left us.

Your image is everywhere in the photographic history of my life. There we are together in 1990 in Paris and in Ireland. There is your smile, beaming out at me across the years. There you are, happy, celebrating, on all those Christmases, Thanksgivings and Fourths of July our families spent together. And, heartbreakingly, there you are in my wedding album, in the background of the picture of my first dance with Mr. Fraulein. It’s been a year since you left us, and the hole in my heart is still there. I think it may be permanent. You never got to meet Little Peanut. I don’t even think you knew I was pregnant when you died.

It’s never going to go away, this feeling of wrongness. Something cracked in the universe when you left, and it’s never going to be put right. How I wanted to dance at your wedding. How I wanted to get to know your children. How very much I wanted you to be a part of my daughter’s life.

But now you’re elsewhere. I still think about you all the time. I just want to sit down and have a beer with you again. Someday, in another place, we will meet again and have that drink – I know that we will. In the meantime, I try to take some comfort in knowing that you are out there somewhere, a guardian angel for your niece and nephew, and hopefully for Little Peanut as well.

The Sky Is Falling! Blame Obama

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

The Dow Jones average fell below 7000 for the first time since 1997. And it's Obama's fault. At least that's what the corporatists and right wing would like you to believe. The fast and furious mudslinging doesn't stop, nor will it ever in my opinion. Anything bad that happens? It Obama's fault.

Nevermind the fact that it's taken years to reach the financial tsunami, this perfect storm of a crisis. It's Obama's fault. Even the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal, a financial paper that used to have some credibility has jumped on the "Blame Obama" bandwagon.

As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem.

January 2nd? But President Obama didn't take office until January 20th, when the Dow closed at 7949. Kinda blows a whole in the numbers, doesn't it? So not only is it bad enough for the WSJ editors to fudge numbers to make it look worse since Obama took office, they are now saying he's had enough time to fix the economy. Why can't Obama close the deal?

But after five weeks in office, it’s become clear that Mr. Obama’s policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence — and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth.

Yes, because after eight years of deregulation, ponzi schemes, major tax cuts for the wealthy causing a continuing disparity between the upper crust and the middle class, and during war time no less, it only takes five weeks to clean up the mess, doesn't it...

You'd think some serious ideas to help solve the problem instead of being the Party of No would behoove these people, but why should I continue to be surprised?

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

I'm not that old...

The Peanut has been very into dinosaurs lately. We've gotten a bunch of books about dinosaurs from the library, and she is very interested in learning about how big they were and what they looked like and what they ate. She still can't quite wrap her mind around the idea that they lived millions of years ago, though. To a 4-year-old, "a long time ago" is relative.

Thus yesterday's Question of the Day: "Mommy, were the dinosaurs still around when you were a kid?"

Though I have learned from Facebook that I looked vastly younger in 1993, fortunately I am not THAT old.

Sorry for light posting

Work combined with an unexpected snow day are kicking my ass right now. So for the few who are reading this, sorry for light posting at the moment. Hopefully regularly scheduled political rants/observations on the Peanut will resume shortly. Fortunately for me I have the talented Broadway Carl to pick up my slack! If you haven't yet checked out his blog, where I also contribute occasionally, please do so.

This Is The Mentality We're Dealing With

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.—Keyanus Price, an African American, said she was appalled when she received an e-mail from Mayor Dean Grose's personal account that showed a picture of the White House with a watermelon patch imposed as the White House garden.

...Grose's e-mail included the picture with a heading that read, "No Easter Egg hunt this year."

UPDATE:

AP: LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) — The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year."

Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued a statement Thursday saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor at Monday's City Council meeting.

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl' Blog-O-Mania!

Culture Shock - Bachmann Strikes Again

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

I seriously want to know how stupid the voters are in Michele Bachmann's Minnesota district. Is there some kind of chemical plant in the area poisoning their local water supply? How is it possible that one of the stupidest people on the planet is an elected representative of the United States?

You'd think that she would have disappeared after suggesting that some of her colleagues in Congress were anti-American because of their liberal views, but she actually won her re-election bid. Does her whole district reside under power lines?

Well, never let it be said that Bachmann isn't the conservative goose that lays the racist egg. After RNC Chairman Michael Steele spoke at CPAC yesterday, Bachmann let loose with some words of praise, but in an effort to follow Steele's call for appealing to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings," shouted out "You be da man! You be da man!" Come to think of it, is Bachmann related to the woman in the movie "Airplane" that was able to translate jive?

Steele responded with this.

Speaking of Michael "Bling-Bling" Steele, Stephen Colbert had a challenge for the RNC Chariman last night.

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

Stephen Challenges Michael Steele

Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor

Joke of the Day
Stand-Up Comedy

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Cross-posted on Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Matt Lauer Calls Out Santeill On His White House Threat Claim

Guest posted by Broadway Carl



Santelli: "Well, I'm not saying 'threatening'..."

Really? That's not what you said on G. Gordon Liddy's sorry excuse for a show.



Good for Matt Lauer to call out this moron. And Lauer didn't even mention the fact that the reason Robert Gibbs "called out" Santelli is because he was asked a question about Santelli's specific action!

Q On the foreclosure plan, aside from Rush Limbaugh and that cable rant on the floor of the Exchange, there really does appear to be some --

MR. GIBBS: Chuck's network? (Laughter.)

Q -- there really does appear to be some anger out there from people who just don't believe the President when he said that only people who acted responsibly are going to be helped here. How can you assure people that you're going to reward only people, only homeowners who acted responsibly?

Can this guy please fade back into obscurity now?

Cross-posted on Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

This just hasn't been the Republicans' week

Coming hot on the heels of "Bobby" Jindal's spectacularly awful performance in delivering the GOP response to President Obama's recent address to Congress, now we have news that "Joe" the "Plumber"'s recent Washington book signing event was something of a dud:

About 11 people wandered into the rows of seats set up hopefully in the basement of a downtown Border's bookstore to hear Joe speak. Joe addressed them from behind a lectern and with a microphone, but that seemed unnecessarily formal.

Even the Washington Post can't keep the snark in check on this one. Classic:

It's fair to say Joe's appearance at Borders at 18th and L streets wasn't eagerly anticipated. People just kind of shuffled over when Joe strode in with Thomas N. Tabback, the co-author of "Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream." Annie Hickman, a young woman whom Wurzelbacher called "sweetie" during a brief Q&A, was
browsing when the PA announced that Joe was in the house. "I'm missing pottery class for this," she said.

You know what I especially love about the rise and fall of this gormless nitwit? The fact that he, like so many other intellectual midgets before him, has been hailed by the Republican party as the embodiment of a "real American." As if those of us who, for example, manage to pay our taxes and speak in coherent sentences, should by all rights pack up and move to France. The irony is breathtaking: this guy is somehow the real thing, according to the right-wingers, yet he goes by a fake name and lied about being a licensed plumber. It's as if there was a Women Who are Proud of Having Real Boobs organization, and they appointed Pamela Anderson as their spokesperson. Makes no sense. Just ain't right.

Luckily for the rest of us, it looks like old "Joe," or Sam, or whatever the hell his actual name is, is about to shuffle off into the obscurity he so richly deserves.

Separated at birth?

(With apologies to Don Knotts.)

Another thing about Facebook

Your friends post all these old pictures, which of course are a blast to look at, but then again you're forced to recognize how much you've aged! Here's me and a bunch of college friends in 1993. I'm 24. I'm in the middle next to the guy with the sunglasses. Mr. Fraulein said, "You don't look that different," but of course he has famously bad eyesight. Oh the humanity...

"I want to sit on your lap forever"

She is getting so tall now, my Peanut. In a few more weeks she'll be four and a half, which is very hard to believe. I always know when she's about to go up to the next clothing size when suddenly her feet start to look big for her body. It's really funny.

The other day she said to me, "I wish I could sit on your lap forever." If only!

Political Suicide

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

It's amazing to me that some of these insane Republican Governors would even fathom the idea of refusing federal aid for their states to make political hay. South Carolina's Mark Sanford has been the most vocal when it comes to the recovery bill.

“We’re moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy,” Sanford also said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
...“That is quite different than a market-based economy where some rise and some fall but there’s a consequence to making a stupid decision,” Sanford said after pointing to the powers granted to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to help deal with the current economic crisis.

I wonder if Sanford will make the "stupid decision" of letting his state starve instead? Hell, he waited until the last possible second before asking for money to shore up unemployment benefits in the state with the third highest unemployment rate at 9.5%, so I wouldn't put it past him.

But we all know that in general, Republicans are hypocrites.

Sanford: "Being against it doesn't preclude taking the money."

Lindsey Graham on CNN after being asked if South Carolina should take the money: “I think that, yes, from my point of view, I — you don’t want to be crazy here."

Is it just me or is this like force feeding a baby to eat his beets? We know it's good for them, but they turn their heads and make a stink and cry and moan and wail because they don't like the taste of what's best for them.

I say, let them drink the political hemlock. If they seriously think that threatening to refuse money based on some set of misguided principles, or touting the funds they got in the bill through amendments they then voted against are going to help them in their upcoming campaigns, go right ahead and jump off that cliff. I'll be the one playing the pipe as they leap off the egde.

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

No one could have predicted that this would end badly

It's stories like this one that make a person marvel that the human race hasn't gone extinct yet through our own stupidity:

Huge chimp shot dead after mauling woman in Conn.

By STEPHANIE REITZ (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 17, 2009 12:50 PM EST

HARTFORD, Conn. - A 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee who once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola was shot dead by police after a violent rampage that left a friend of its owner badly mauled.

These people had a 200-pound chimpanzee living in their house. In Connecticut. Doesn't everyone on your suburban block have a wild animal stashed in the basement? Maybe their next-door neighbors have a lion on a leash? In all seriousness--WTF? But wait: it gets worse...

Police have dealt with him in the past, including an incident in 2003 when he escaped from his owners' vehicle in downtown Stamford for two hours. Officers used cookies, macadamia treats and ice cream in an attempt to lure him, but subdued him only after he became too tired to resist.

At the time of the 2003 incident, police said the Herolds told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He also brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control, police said.

So to recap, not only did these maniacs keep a chimpanzee as a pet, they also let him drink wine. And this arrangement went sour--imagine that!

UPDATE: Not just wine -- also Xanax. As Bob Cesca would say, "Smart!"

I am utterly fascinated by this story. What exactly was the thought process here? Did this woman think: "I know what would be awesome: I'll adopt this gigantic wild animal, dress him up like a person, keep him living in completely unsuitable conditions, and then drug him up with pharmaceuticals meant for humans. What could go wrong?"

I just don't get it. But I do think she should go to jail. How it could be legal for someone to keep an animal like this in an ordinary home is beyond me. Whether it was legal or not, she should be held responsible for what happened to the friend who was unfortunate enough to get in the chimp's way as the poor animal made his final bid for freedom. Just completely sad all the way around.

Yes Pecan!

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

I just received this e-mail and laughed so hard, I had to share.

Ben & Jerry created "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama.

[This is true. The rest of it, I'm not so sure.]

They then asked people to fill in the blank to the following:
For George W. they created "_________".

Here are some of their favorite responses:

~ Grape Depression
~ Abu Grape
~ Cluster Fud
~ Nut'n Accomplished
~ Iraqi Road
~ Chock 'n Awe
~ Wire Tapioca
~ Impeach Cobbler
~ Guantanmallow
~ imPeachmint
~ Good Riddance You Lousy Motherfucker. .. Swirl
~ Heck of a Job, Brownie!
~ Neocon Politan
~ Rocky Road to Fascism
~ The Reese's-cession
~ Cookie D'oh!
~ The Housing Crunch
~ Nougalar Proliferation
~ Death by Chocolate... and Torture
~ Credit Crunch
~ Country Pumpkin
~ Chunky Monkey in Chief
~ George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
~ WM Delicious
~ Chocolate Chimp
~ Bloody Sundae
~ Caramel Preemptive Stripe
~ I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands... with nuts

Since posting, it has been confirmed that while Obama's new Ben and Jerry's flavor is authentic, the ice cream company is not making a flavor for George W. Bush.

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Things Republicans don't mind spending money on

Here is what is infuriating about the uproar over President Obama's economic stimulus package: the very same people who are screaming that the U.S. government is setting taxpayer money on fire by using it for upgrading the electrical grid and fixing crumbling bridges, had, and STILL HAVE, absolutely no problem with the trillions of dollars the U.S. has spent on the Iraq war. Money flushed down the toilet. Wasted--for nothing. Well, except guaranteeing that most of the Middle East will continue to hate us for generations to come.

This is a major point that you rarely hear made by the TV news empty suits. Why is "government spending" a horrible travesty when the money goes to building schools and cleaning up toxic waste sites in our own backyards? Why is it not only OK, but utterly necessary, according to the Republicans, to spend trillions of dollars of public money on wars of choice? Because putting on a show--homeland security theater, if you will--trumps all other considerations? Because as long as their buddies in the defense and oil industries are raking in the cash, that's all that matters? That's what it's about, and the leadership of the GOP knows it. The question is when ordinary citizens who tend not to pay attention to politics are going to figure this out.

I wonder if we are beginning to see a shift in public thinking on this issue. I think Obama's election was just the beginning. As people's 401ks and other investments continue to tank and their jobs become more precarious--as more and more people lose their homes--the consequences of eight years of indiscriminate tax cuts for the uber-wealthy are becoming increasingly clear. The math just doesn't work. You can't simply remove a vast chunk of the public wealth from the government's coffers, in the form of the war spending and the tax cuts, and then expect things to magically continue to function as they always have. Infrastructure falls apart after a while. Schools crumble. If you never spend money to fix anything, well, things don't get fixed. I think people are starting to figure this out. It's really not that complicated.

The peril for the GOP will be the moment when a critical mass of Americans FINALLY gets this point. Once people realize that for the past 30 years, this line they've been feeding us about how "government is the problem" is actually bullshit, the Republicans are done. And they know it. This is why they are fighting Obama tooth and nail over this stimulus spending. The outcome of this fight will determine what trajectory our country takes over the coming generations.

The trolls are having a party at Bob Cesca's

Have you noticed, Carl -- they're out in force over there today! I think you should go get 'em!! It seems they're being driven insane by the sheer force of Bob Cesca's genius:

The far-right will never grasp or accept the fact that government spending stimulates growth -- double the growth that's created by tax cuts. I mean, the government could allocate funds to tear down the Washington Monument and, in its place, rebuild four replica monuments made out of ham, and such spending would create jobs and stimulate the economy.

I think it's all animated movies for me from here on in

I saw two movies this weekend, one ostensibly a kids' movie, and one a "grown-up" film. Anyone care to guess which one I actually enjoyed?

On Saturday night I had a very rare girls' night out with a friend. We had Mexican food for dinner and then saw "Revolutionary Road," which we both thought we'd like since it's gotten a fair amount of Oscar buzz. Good God in heaven, sitting through this was like having root canal work done. What I want to know is when it became acceptable to completely dispense with the idea of plot in the movies. When the characters start out screaming at each other from almost the very first frame, with absolutely no context or back story or explanation, for some reason the filmmakers think this will be riveting. To me it was just mystifying.

So it's the 1950s and everybody's a chain-smoking drunk, apparently, and everyone ignores their kids 95 percent of the time, and in a vague generalized sense, they have angst. In the viewer, this creates questions: Why specifically do they have angst? And why should I give a shit? The filmmakers have told me exactly nothing about the characters, so why should I care if they hate each other and their marriage is falling apart? It's evidently supposed to be entertainment enough to watch Leonardo DiCaprio (who is looking weirder as he ages, with those child-like features becoming obscured by creeping middle age) and Kate Winslet, who is certainly capable of much better acting, shrieking at one another in naked pursuit of Oscar nominations. The whole thing was an ordeal to sit through. I want my $10 back!

Then there was Madagasacar 2, which we watched on DVD after having seen part of it in the theater a while back. (We had to leave early because the Peanut was freaked out by the scary parts.) As I've said before, the people making kids movies these days (Dream Works in this case) seem much more concerned with delivering a satisfying story. And while the Pixar folks are the undisputed masters of computer animation, this film shows that Dream Works is capable of giving them a serious run for their money. Some of the animation work here is astonishingly sophisticated. Fast, funny, engaging and moving, this movie was every bit as good as its predecessor, which you can't always say about sequels.

That said, I do have one gripe: why must the scary bits be SO scary? It's fine for, say and 8- or 10-year old to see the terrifying shark trying to eat the cute little lemur guy--not so great for a 4-year-old. Same thing for the use of an actual child's voice for baby lion Alex in the scene where he is being abducted by poachers. This certainly added realism, but it's disturbing to hear a real kid crying "Daddy!" in that scene. We had to fast-forward through that part when the Peanut was watching, and then watching it ourselves later after she went to bed, we found it terribly off-putting.

But, even given that issue, give me the latest and greatest from Pixar or Dream Works before some lumbering pretentious novel adaptation any day of the week.

Obama Fights Back - Washington Post Editorial

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

This is something we're not used to seeing from Presidents. I can't remember if President Bush wrote anything, speeches, editorials, a book report on "My Pet Goat"?

President Barack Obama took his pen to paper and wrote an editorial regarding the economic struggle that we find ourselves in and the urgency of passing the Economic Recovery Bill currently in the Senate in the Washington Post today.

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

Now, some will say that this is beneath the President. Why is he writing editorials in the Washington Post? The answer is because he can. I don't know if it's my perception or if the media is following Obama with a fine tooth comb, but I don't ever recall any President having or maybe wanting this much media access to bring his message directly to the American people. There he was on all the nightly newscasts answering for the Daschle withdrawal. Have you ever seen anything like it? With this President the words, "The buck stops here," isn't just a funny little catchphrase. He actually means it.

Some will suggest that the editorial sounds like fearmongering. I vehemently disagree. The President's editorial isn't fearmongering if there is truth to it. There are no false qualifiers here, no deception, no lies to persuade. We are in deep, deep trouble and every day we wait it gets worse. There is no falsehood to that. There's a difference between laying out the dire circumstances for all to see and fearmonging to scare up votes by saying something like, "...if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States." See the difference?

I also disagree with those who think that President Obama didn't have to send this message. So far, this recovery bill has been based on the framing of the argument. The Republicans have framed the debate on this bill as "pork laden." Rush Limbaugh calls it "porkulus" in front of 14 million weekly listeners. (And he certainly know something about porkulus.) The GOP has capitalized and zeroed in on a fraction of one percent of the recovery bill for their political advantage and framed the entire bill it as a pork laden wish list. They public thinks it looks like pork because the Democrats are sitting back while the Republicans, with the blatant or inadvertent help of the media, are framing it as wasteful spending. And if the public gets that perception, then that's what they'll believe because the media is never wrong. Where is the rebuttal from Democratic leaders explaining why these measures are in the bill?

$200 million for Medicaid on contraception will save $60 billion in government medical costs in the future. Sounds like a good investment. $21 million for the National Mall will put arguably thousands to work to repair the crumbling foundations of our national monuments. But the GOP calls this "$21 million for grass." The list goes on and on, and instead of the Democratic leaders rebutting these ridiculous pork notions, they are either nervously wringing their hands in silence or aren't getting the air time to rebut. The only Congressman I saw defending contraception was Robert Wexler (D-FL), who explained it rationally and logically on Hardball with Chris Matthews. And when he was done, he still got a "I don't understand what you're talking about," from an obtuse Phil Gingrey, the same Congressman who's apologized to Rush Limbaugh for his brief moment of clarity.

Maybe the President did make one mistake. In the interest of bipartisanship, President Obama compromised too much; he backed off to a fault with initial GOP resistance and it was perceived as a validation of Republican complaints. But what happened? After he accommodated them, House Republicans rejected the bill anyway. And the more it went on, the more we saw the political endgame that they would have rejected it no matter what the President did just to send a message.

Well, now it's the President's turn to send a message. It's the Democratic leaders' turn to send a message and make the obstructionists decide that if they really want to fight this thing, they're going to have to filibuster for it. No pansy ass cloture votes. Make them filibuster.

The only mistake the President made regarding the Washington Post editorial was not going far enough. This was a statement that needed to be made on prime time television in front of a national audience.

Cross-posted on Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Letting the sun shine in

In the early 1990s, fresh out of college, I began my career as a newspaper reporter. My career in the news business was pretty average--I toiled somewhat anonymously at a variety of weekly and daily papers, covering car accidents and fires, town council meetings and court hearings, parades and funerals and school board meetings. I worked for several years before my employer thought to invest in this crazy newfangled Internet thing. Once we got it, the whole concept was so alien to us that most of my colleagues avoided any attempt to do research on the Internet in favor of the reporting tools that had worked just fine for us up until that point--the telephone and the strength of our relationships with our sources.

But sources, no matter how solid, can only bring a reporter so far. When you're covering a complex issue of national import like, for example, proposed military base closings (which I wrote about extensively during this period) you inevitably run up against the limits of what your sources know--or what they're willing to tell you. The Freedom of Information Act is a powerful tool that can be used by every reporter, whether at a lowly weekly or the New York Times, to shine light on issues of great importance to the public. FOIA requires federal agencies to release (with certain exceptions) requested non-classified information pertaining to the activities of the federal government. The request can come from any citizen, but reporters tend to rely on FOIA the most (even today, when the Internet has made it so much simpler for reporters to research most topics). The idea is to keep the government honest.

So you can imagine what happened to FOIA under George W. Bush. As Leslie Harris wrote on Huffington Post:

For the last eight years, government agencies were encouraged to thwart FOIA requests twisting the broad language in the Act in favor of secrecy. Under Bush, FOIA restrictions were routine, often bizarre and sometimes outright laughable. For example, the names of drugs forced used on the prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay were withheld because releasing the information would be considered a violation of 'personal privacy.' Schedules of agency officials were deemed off-limits and information once widely available on the Internet, such as information about toxic chemical spills, essentially became invisible to scrutiny.

It's just another example of how Bush and his minions went out of their way to hide the extent of the damage they did to our country. Now, with Bush mercifully gone and Barack Obama running the show, FOIA has gotten a new lease on life. Obama has directed federal agencies to take FOIA requests seriously, in stark contrast to the obstructionism of the last eight years under the Republicans. The importance of this is hard to overstate. Imagine a government operating in the sunlight instead of skulking about in the shadows. It's a win not only for journalists, but for all of us.

You've never seen them in the same place, right?

This made me laugh out loud: Antique Mommy and I are apparently married to the same guy. (He's Antique Daddy, or AD in this post.) Like Mr. Fraulein, Antique Daddy is also an engineer. Coincidence? I think not.

THURSDAY UPDATE: I stand corrected -- seems like AD is in a technical field of some kind but is not actually an engineer. Sounds like the same pack rat rules still apply though!

"Terrible Towels"?

So I really, really don't pay attention to sports -- but I can't possibly be the only person who has zero idea what this is about:

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Thousands of Pittsburgh Steelers fans lined downtown streets Tuesday cheering and twirling Terrible Towels at a parade celebrating the team's victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Sunday's Super Bowl, the sixth for the storied franchise.

Um, WTF? Nowhere in the AP story is this explained. Bad journalism.

"Joy crosses the placenta"

This post by Antique Mommy is, like most of her writing, simply perfect. Even though I've read her story before (pregnant for the first time, more or less by accident, at 44!) I find it endlessly inspiring. It's a powerful reminder to never, ever give up hope.

Welcome back to the 1980s

So our national economic picture is back to pretty much what it was in the bleak 1980s recession (thank you, Ronald Reagan). And it's about to get even worse:

Another 2 million or more jobs will vanish this year, economists predict.

This raises a number of questions for me:

1. Will conservatives/Republicans/people who voted for George W. Bush/people who voted for John McCain ever admit the direct link between GOP policies and the economy plunging into the shitter?

2. Will any of the Republicans in Congress now actually work with President Obama to try to make things better? (I know, I know, the idea makes me laugh too.)

3. What is going to happen to the 401K system? Since, like many Americans, I'm relying on this for my retirement, this question is a somewhat urgent one for me. I'm frankly kind of tired of hearing, "Oh, you're only 40 -- it will bounce back." When? How much of it will bounce back? Will I now have to work until I'm 80?

4. Will Obama stick to his guns and do what needs to be done to keep the Republicans in check and bring us back from the brink? I sure as hell hope so.

What do you think -- are those of us with 401Ks completely screwed? Will the GOP obstructionism continue unabated?

The Emotional Dick Cavett

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

Dick Cavett writes up a nice opinion piece about his Inauguration Day feelings with a bit of a tangent on his emotional outpourings when listening to certain music. But I would be remiss if I didn't include these words for posterity in this space.

I felt bad when George Bush was booed.

But only briefly. My sympathy for that man has a half-life of about four seconds.

There was a surprising number of outpourings of sympathy for his having to sit there and, as it was too-often described, “take it on the chin.” Was there ever a chin more deserving of taking it?

“You have to feel sorry for him,” someone cooed. “No. You do not!” I shouted at the screen. I know he “tried” and he “did what he thought was right.” But so does the incompetent surgeon.

What does that excuse?

His brief discomfort “sitting there” can’t have been less endurable than the discomfort of the young soldier describing on the news how he watched helplessly as his gut-shot buddy bled to death on the sands the smirking Texan sent him to.

*****

And a hearty sayonara to that other fellow.

Do freshman philosophy classes nowadays debate updated versions of the age-old questions? Like, how could a merciful God allow AIDS, childhood cancers, tsunamis and Dick Cheney?

Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Is Obama Playing Limbaugh?

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

There's been plenty of talk for the last few days about President Obama and Rush Limbaugh. First it was Limbaugh's idiotic diatribe hoping that Obama fails and rejecting the notion that other less extreme Republicans are defending Obama and hoping for his success because he's a black man and it's the politically correct/affirmative action thing to do. I suppose it had nothing to do with the fact that the nation is currently in the toilet.

Then it was President Obama meeting with Congressional Republicans and suggesting that they shouldn't listen to Limbaugh if they want to get anything done. Rush Limbaugh enjoyed the attention and the talking head pundits were wondering why Obama would give Limbaugh such credence.

But it would seem that there is yet another possible scenario in play. Obama is baiting Rush, not the other way around. And so far it looks like GOP mouthpieces are heeding Obama's advice and possibly marginalizing Limbaugh in the process.

I never thought I'd agree with Phil Gingrey (YEAH, I KNOW!) but here's his comment:

"I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach," Gingrey said. "I mean, it's easy if you're Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don't have to try to do what's best for your people and your party. You know you're just on these talk shows and you're living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn't be or wouldn't be good leaders, they're not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."

Media critic Michael Wolff thinks Obama got under Limbaugh's skin by having a dinner with conservative journalists and pundits and conspicuously excluding poor, misunderstood Rush.

So is Obama playing Limbaugh like a big, fat fiddle? I don't know if there's any validity to the theory, but Obama is a shrewd character, and every time he was doubted during the campaign, he kept proving the doubters wrong. I'm wondering what the next step will be in the Rush Wars. It's silly, but kind of exciting instead of listening to the continual zombie drone of "more tax cuts."

(H/T HuffPo)


Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

The REAL CBO Report

Guest posted by Broadway Carl

According to Think Progress, this much ballyhooed Congressional Budget Office report that was used to criticize the Obama Recovery Bill by Republicans was cited 81 times in the last six days by the talking heads on television and in print; they criticized that spending was initally slow and that only 35% of the package would be spent by 2011.

There's just one problem with that: the CBO report they were citing doesn't exist. Rather, the media and Republican opposition to the bill were citing a partial report that didn't include the planned tax cuts, unemployment benefit extensions and numerous other factors. Even after Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained that everyone was citing an incomplete report in his press conference on Friday, inaccurate reporting continued on the news.

New Meet The Press host David Gregory used the CBO report in criticism on Sunday morning and I personally witnessed Nora O'Donnell on MSNBC ask about the partial report when questioning Congressman Chris Van Hollen late Monday afternoon! But I suppose if it isn't scandalous it doesn't sell, so why bother with accuracy?

Well guess what? The CBO actually released a complete report Monday evening which shows that, just as the Obama administration has been saying, about ¾ of the stimulus package would be injected into the economy within the first 18 months.

From the CBO report (emphasis mine):

This is the first cost estimate that CBO has prepared for H.R. 1 in its entirety. A previous preliminary estimate that has been widely cited addressed only the budgetary impacts of an earlier version of the provisions contained in Division A, at the request of the House Committee on Appropriations.

CBO has since made small changes to our estimates of the portion of the bill that was included in that preliminary estimate, mostly to reflect amendments to the legislation since we prepared the last estimate. Based on information provided by the committee and discussions with numerous state officials, we also made small technical changes to that earlier estimate.

I wonder how quickly the very serious mainstream media will report on this, and if they'll mention it 81 times in six days? I'm also sure the GOP will ignore it while tending to their fudge, since it doesn't fit into their agenda.

I mean, think about it. All we've heard the latest cheap Republican talking point is the expenditure of $200 million for Medicaid to be used for contraception and all the hysteria from the right asking how something like that can stimulate the economy. They are completely ignoring the fact that education, prevention of STDs and unwanted pregnancies can help in reducing governmental financial responsibilities later on. But the word "contraception" is a touchstone for their religious right base, even though the money planned for this program is only 0.00024% of the total package.

What's the GOP solution? More tax cuts. You know, because it's worked so well before.

(H/T Bob Cesca)


Cross-posted at Broadway Carl's Blog-O-Mania!

Shaking things up around here

So in my usual fashion, since I'm perpetually trying to do about 273 things at once, I have dropped the ball (until now!) on writing a post to explain the cross-posting experiment I've undertaken with my virtual pal Broadway Carl. You will see below that he's already posted here to introduce himself and talk a bit about what drew him to blogging in the first place. Like me, Carl found himself watching the rapidly-metastasizing horrors of the Bush administration with increasing dismay. Also like me, he began blogging to vent his rage about what was happening to our country and to find a community of like-minded folks to commiserate with.

Carl and I first "met" in the online world in the vibrant group of frequent commenters on Bob Cesca's fantastic blog. During the election frenzy I found myself commenting there every so often, and it was clear from Carl's contributions to those memorable conversations, as well as from his thought-provoking posts on his own blog, that this guy was a kindred spirit: someone unafraid to mince words about the massive stupidity of the right-wing ideology. Someone who loves being part of the debate about how to fix our country's many problems. And someone who approaches his writing as I always at least try to do--with humor and inventiveness.

If you take a trip over to Carl's excellent "Blog-O-Mania," you'll see what I'm talking about. And to shake things up a little around here, I'll be featuring some of Carl's posts here on Purple Ink, and some of my posts will appear on the Blog-O-Mania. If you like what you see, we both hope you'll come back for more! Comments, effusive praise, constructive criticism, and tips are always welcome.

Who Is Broadway Carl?

Guest-posted by Broadway Carl

Hi, I'm new here so I thought I'd introduce myself. I go by Broadway Carl - my nom de plume - that's french for "name of pen," although the name of my pen is actually Paper♥Mate™. I call myself Broadway Carl because, 1) I work on Broadway as a stagehand and, 2) my name is - well, I can't tell you what my name is or else my non de plume would be useless. I'll give you a hint... it's starts with a 'C'.

My first foray into blogging came a little over two years ago. It was my attempt to deal with my growing anger for the recently departed presidential administration. I tend to get "worked up" - a mild way of saying "frothy-mouthed frenzy" - and my lovely, patient wife got tired of the spittle flying about. (I get very animated and loud when angry.) So I decided to put my thoughts down on "electronic paper" as an outlet. Two years later, I'm still writing. And my wife reads my rants instead of trying to decipher what the hell I was screaming about while sitting behind a protective shield.

The lovely Fraulein has frequented my site, as I have hers, and we decided it might be a good idea to occasionally cross-post our thoughts on each others' blogs. I enjoy and respect her writing and assume she enjoys mine; why else invite someone to contribute to your space if you think it's swill? Hopefully, you'll enjoy what I have to say as well and stop by my place to say hello.

Cheers,
Broadway Carl


One more thing - I see that Fraulein has been having Facbook issues lately. Here's what I had to say on the subject last month.

Another thing about Facebook

If you're not on Facebook, you won't know it if your friends have been posting photos in which you appear hungover and are sporting a tragic hairdo, circa 1989.

One of the many awesome things about having a "President Obama"

I'm watching the coverage of the various Inaugural balls now and it occurs to me that Obama's triumph must stick in the collective craw of our country's hoardes of racist Republicans (and just plain racists) to no end. Can you imagine how much it must kill these people to see all these BLACK people in positions of power? A BLACK First Couple, being serenaded by quite a few talented, attractive, BLACK celebrities? And not only that, but as you looked out over the Mall earlier today, you could see all those white people mixing in freely with everybody else of every other color, united in celebration of our common victory over the right-wing forces of darkness.

Man, they must hate this. It's going to be a tough four (well, hopefully eight) years for the racists.

(Photo credit Huffington Post)

Don't let the door hit you on the ass, George

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Inauguration Day is here!! I can't wait to hear Obama's speech.

A new day is coming...

Facebook

So I've finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, onto Facebook. First impressions: if you want to keep your work acquaintances from learning every detail about your life in high school, etc., you need to avoid "friending" the work people. The other thing is, since I want to keep this blog anonymous-ish to the outside world, I won't be promoting the blog on Facebook. So it's like you have all these separate online profiles, or personae...I can see how this might get difficult to manage.

Also, it is truly hilarious how the people whose guts you hated in high school suddenly come out of the woodwork to become your virtual "friends." As I suspected, some of the people who weren't that bright and were the sworn enemies of my group of the (ahem) smarter kids, have now become Republicans. No one could have predicted that...

This is the man who will be President

I can't even put into words how proud I am that this man will be our President. That he will replace George W. Bush, that tiny, insignificant man, so tortured by rage at his own inadequacies. Here is part of a letter Barack Obama wrote to his daughters, that will run in "Parade" this weekend:

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me--about how I'd make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn't seem so important anymore. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realized that my own life wouldn't count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours. In the end, girls, that's why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation.

The Word of the Day

Every time we give the Peanut a bath, she emerges from the tub as an even bigger silliness generating machine than usual. You wouldn't think it should take two adults to subdue one 40-pound person long enough to towel her off and put her pajamas on, but it often does, because of her inability to stop flailing her limbs, shouting and giggling. So we only bathe her once a month.

OK, I'm kidding about that last part. But not about the Unstoppable Silliness Machine. Sometimes, post-bath, she fixates on a word and shouts it at the top of her lungs for 20 minutes or so. (Howdy, downstairs neighbors! Just wait until your little toddler starts to talk...just wait...) One time, the Word of the Day was "butt." Last night, it was:

"Booger!" (Giggles uncontrollably.) "BOOGER!" (Giggles uncontrollably.) "BOOGER!" (Etc.)

"Oh....KAY. Can you please not say 'booger'?" I said. Which was totally the wrong thing to say, because it just kicked off another round of booger-shouting. "Where did you learn that word from?" I asked, already knowing the answer. The culprit was, of course, this guy.

Evil

UN truck comes under deadly fire in Gaza
By IBRAHIM BARZAK and STEVE WEIZMAN (Associated Press Writers)
From Associated Press
January 08, 2009 4:19 PM EST

JERUSALEM - The U.N. suspended aid shipments in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and the Red Cross restricted its convoys after their trucks came under Israeli fire. The threat of a wider conflict arose when militants in Lebanon fired two rockets into northern Israel.

One rocket crashed into a retirement home, but there were no serious injuries. Israel responded with mortar shells.

The driver of the U.N. truck died immediately; another worker in the truck died later of his wounds. The truck, which came under fire in northern Gaza, was marked with the U.N. flag and insignia.

During a three-hour pause in the fighting to allow in food and fuel and let medics collect the dead, nearly three dozen bodies were found beneath the rubble of bombed out buildings in Gaza City. Many of the dead were in the same neighborhood where the international Red Cross said rescuers discovered young children too weak to stand who had stayed by their dead mothers. The aid group accused Israel of an "unacceptable" delay in allowing workers to reach the area. Relations between Israel and humanitarian organizations have grown increasingly tense as civilian casualties have mounted.

Me, 40

Jan. 1, 2009.

My sorrows, they learned to swim

I hate this time of year. It gets dark so early, and my ghosts get restless.

(With apologies to U2).

Things that make me laugh

I got an e-mail from a longtime friend, somebody I dated a million years ago, in which he addressed me as "lass." With the countdown to the First Anniversary of my 39th Birthday now at T-minus 10 days, this gave me a giggle.

Thoughts on WALL-E

I have decided that if WALL-E isn't at least nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, then Pixar will have gotten totally robbed. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association apparently agrees that the little robot that could deserves some high-profile recognition: they've named WALL-E their best picture of the year.

I think computer animated films overall have been woefully underrepresented at the Oscars. From a layperson's standpoint, I think the "wow factor" comes into play here -- how do they make it all look so real? How it is possible to give such an emotional depth and range to something like a robot? Pixar deserves an Oscar for that alone. And not only that, but for the superiority of the storytelling over most conventional films. I totally prefer a movie like The Incredibles over most mass-produced Hollywood crap.

Also, I think WALL-E resonates so much because the way things are going, Pixar's haunting image of a future garbage-strewn earth looks awfully prescient. If we don't stop overproducing plastic crap that no one needs, the planet is screwed. And we probably won't have an "Axiom" spaceship to fly off on.

Regardless of what you think of the movie's message about conservation, the love story, with its underlying message of hope about the power of human (and, uh, non-human) connections is an unequivocal home run. We've been through the DVD a dozen times in the last couple of weeks and I still can't get through it without sobbing. WALL-E and Eve are among the great big screen couples. Can anyone think of another movie with so little dialogue that still manages to be so moving?

So, long shot though it may be, I'm rooting for a Best Picture Oscar for WALL-E come next year. I can't think of a more deserving film.

I recommend this post from Bob Cesca

...(to be found here) for the Galaxy Quest reference alone.

Goddamn awesome indeed!

Like a Nobel Prize and an Oscar rolled into one

The Peanut, last night as I tucked her into bed: "You are the best mommy of all the mommies."

I could ask for no higher praise than that!

Sorry for light posting lately; work has been insane. New blogging inspiration to come shortly...stay tuned...

New "Half-Blood Prince" trailer released

Just caught this on Huffington Post. Even though there were a couple of "Half-Blood Prince" trailers out there already, Warner Bros. has given us a new one two days before what was to have been the movie's release date. Now we have to wait until July to see the completed film, due to a bunch of behind-the-scenes studio maneuvering that I still don't entirely understand.

Couple of thoughts on this: "Half-Blood Prince" is my least favorite of the Harry Potter books, but I'm still incredibly excited about the movie. There's intense debate about the relative merits of the Potter movies but I love them all. Each one in its own way brings to light something that has enriched my subsequent readings of the novels. This is due in no small part to the near-miraculous casting of the once-child (now more or less adult!) actors who play the three key roles. Could Warner Bros. have found a more perfect Harry, Hermione and Ron? I can't imagine how.

So while it's enraging that Warner Bros. is making us wait until next summer for this one, I think the next couple of years of speculation on how they will pull off the final two-part blockbuster version of "Deathly Hallows" will be pretty fun to watch. The one thing I desperately hope they don't screw up in the final movie(s) is the "anteroom to the afterlife" scene where Harry speaks to the departed Dumbledore. That scene ranks right up there with the classic and incredibly moving "Mirror of Erised" chapter in the very first Potter novel, in my estimation.

If Virginia Woolf had written children's fantasy novels, she could have written that scene: heaven's entryway imagined as King's Cross station. Literary snob though she was, I expect she would approve of that.

(Here endeth the literary geekery.)

The best lost wallet story ever

It even has a happy ending. Told as only Laid-Off Dad can tell it, read the story of an amazing adventure in mass transit craziness, the kindness of strangers, and an unlikely rescue in the shadow of the Henry Hudson Parkway. Plus the "CHUD-like gnome-wraiths several miles beneath the earth's crust" who apparently run New York's Mass Transit Authority. (Who knew?)

As I've said before, if there is such a thing as a blogger creative writing award, this guy is the lifetime all-star winner. Read part one of his adventure here, part two here, and the wrap-up here.

Newsweek asks: Is Obama the Antichrist?

I mean, of course it does. This is Newsweek we're talking about. I am not surprised in the least that they would publish a column with the headline "Is Obama the Antichrist?" Newsweek is a "news" publication in the same sense in which I am "The Queen of England." The people who run this tragedy of a publication desperately aspire to ascend to the level of assclownish hackery (hackish assclownery?) of, say, the New York Post or the Boston Herald.

So, yeah. This is what we can expect for the next four years. "Does Obama have cloven hooves and a tail?? Will he sell the country out to Al Qaeda??"

Fun times ahead...

Time once again for my favorite game

..."Imagine if (fill in the blank) happened to/was said by/was done by a Republican." (Or in this case, maybe what we need to imagine is: what would happen if the endemic racism in this country was targeted against whites, but the same rules apply.)

Just imagine, if you will, the shitstorm that would ensue if the newly-elected President whose election triggered this behavior was, say, an old, white Republican. Imagine if blacks across the country, responding to the election of said white Republican, erupted in an insane spasm of hateful, racist acts targeted against white people.

How long would it take for the blacks in question to wind up in prison?

How many of these crackers will end up in jail?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Veteran's Day

(And yes, I realize this is a day late..) Here's my dad in Korea in 1953.

Thanks to all the veterans.

Open mouth, insert foot

Memo to Mark Foley (and all other Republican sex hypocrites, by the way): You should really stop talking. No more interviews. When you open your mouth, you make things worse:

Foley insists he did nothing illegal and never had sexual contact with teens, just inappropriate Internet conversations. Investigations by the FBI and Florida authorities ended without criminal charges.

And while he concedes his behavior was "extraordinarily stupid," he remains somewhat unwilling to accept full public scorn.

These were 17-year-olds, just months from being men, he insists.

Indescribably awesome

Our President-Elect, dropping his kids off at school this morning. How amazing is it that he's still taking the time to do this kind of thing, even when he's got just a few weeks left to get ready to assume the presidency? I love that he is unabashed about showing this kind of devotion to his family.

(Photo credit Huffingtonpost.com)

The very serious Washington Post

For the last year and a half all we've heard is how Barack Obama is the most left-wing person in U.S. politics -- a socialist hippie who wants to "redistribute wealth" by raising taxes to give more money to lazy undeserving poor people.

So what does Obama's landslide victory mean? The very serious Washington Post joins the very serious Newsweek in asserting that this victory for the crazy lefty hippie means that "America is still a center-right country."

You guys keep telling yourselves that. Maybe someday it will come true. Not anytime in the forseeable future, but maybe someday.

Four is awesome indeed

As Antique Mommy writes with her usual eloquence here, a four-year-old is a marvelous thing.

Our liberal media

The stark reality reflected here notwithstanding, our liberal media will remain on hand to inform us at every opportunity that we're really a conservative country.

Hey, Newsweek: if you repeat a lie often enough, it doesn't come true. Watch this: "Sarah Palin is intelligent and competent! Sarah Palin is intelligent and competent!"

Nope, still not true. Screw you, Newsweek--and that goes for the rest of the corporate barbecue media too! The grown-ups are in charge now--deal with it.

They no longer speak for us

They don’t speak for us. The warmongers. The torture-lovers. The reverse Robin Hoods. The crooks and thieves and racists and liars. Those who would leave our own countrymen and women to die in the streets.

That’s what this election was about for me. Making it absolutely clear that we are done with having these people represent us in our government. Shouting from the rooftops that we are better than this, and that we will live up to our potential as a nation instead of letting ourselves down. Letting the world down. We can do better—we must do better—because this is America and America cannot fail.

We are America: all of us who made history by electing Barack Obama to the presidency. We are America whether we are black or white, Christian or Jewish or Muslim or atheist, straight or gay, young or old. Whether we live in big cities or suburbs or small towns, there are no fake Americans here.

But, that said, if anyone has been destroying the promise of America, it’s been the race-baiters and the warmongers and the neo-cons--those who would kill and pillage and steal using our tax dollars, in our names.

As Gary Kamiya wrote in Salon today:

The Obama triumph means the Reagan revolution is over. The anti-government, anti-tax, trickle-down, every-man-for-himself ethos collapsed with a whimper during the catastrophic presidency of George W. Bush, and Obama's election put it out of its misery. By electing Obama, the American people have emphatically rejected the selfishness, masquerading as freedom and rugged individualism, that has been the calling card of the American right wing since Barry Goldwater. In its place, they are calling not just for a new and expanded vision of government's role in American life but for a new vision of American society.

Let's hope that Obama's election will be the impetus for driving a stake through the heart of the wrongheaded conservative philosophy once and for all. YES WE CAN!

This is our moment: this is our time

VOTE BABY VOTE!

(Photo credit Al Rodgers at DailyKos)


11 P.M. UPDATE: HAIL TO THE CHIEF!!!!!

More Sicilians in the 1960s, and a little Italian-Chinese-American in the 2000s

Continuing with these old photos from my cousin: here's my parents in 1965, four years before I was born. That's my mom in the light blue dress and my dad next to her in the dark blue shirt. Did the Peanut get the Sicilian chubby cheeks or what? (See her above at about age 1.)

One of the many, many things I am going to love about seeing Barack Obama sworn in as the next president of the United States is that someday, I can tell the Peanut that in a timespan of just a few decades, we went from interracial marriage being illegal in much of the country to a multiracial person just like her being elected president.

50 years

My parents' 50th wedding anniversary is coming up later this month, and I've been collecting old pictures of them from relatives scattered far and wide. I'm going to surprise them with a scrapbook. One crafty cousin of mine managed to scan in some ancient slides, so that I actually have a bunch of these pictures as .JPGs! Seen here are my dad in 1954 (holding the guitar in the second shot) and my mom and dad with my grandmother and a bunch of other relatives in 1958, the year of their marriage. They're the couple on the right side of the picture. My grandmother, the older lady in the middle of the first shot, is the Theresa of this post, which I've just updated to include a photo from my parents' wedding which shows my grandparents with all 10 of their children.

McCain on SNL

There was that booing I had expected when Palin came on. Some people are saying he humanized himself somewhat, which I guess he did, but even joking that he's planning to play the "sad grandpa" card to get sympathy votes is pretty pathetic at this stage of the campaign. I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the guy.

Almost.