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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | December, 2010

Obama’s 2010 Moment

By on 31 December 2010



In a year that brought little inspiration from Democrats, there was no more important moment for the President and he executed it flawlessly.

When Pres. Obama sacked Gen. Stanley McChrystal and then appointed Gen. David Petraeus he was forced to do something he’s not done before. Stand on a line and make a critical decision that would have lasting consequences for thousands of U.S. soldiers and Afghans. It was brilliant, as I wrote at the time.

Pres. Obama on June 23rd:

But war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or a president. And as difficult as it is to lose General McChrystal, I believe that it is the right decision for our national security.

The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And it erodes the trust that’s necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan.

The day before Obama made his decision, everyone was debating what he might do, with friends and I going at it, including individuals I talked to at the State Dept. Quite a few were not convinced Obama could actually sack McChrystal. I knew he had no choice if he wanted to keep his presidency intact, but that doesn’t mean I thought he’d do it. Not only did Pres. Obama make the move, but choosing Petraeus turned his decision into perfectly crafted leadership.

For me, the entire event revealed something complex and catastrophic, which forced me to reevaluate reality. McChrystal’s implosion in Rolling Stone signaled that things were much, much worse in Afghanistan than the Administration was letting on or dare I say even knew or would admit. This was the moment my unwavering support for Obama’s Afghanistan policy ended, because McChrystal’s raw candor and his admissions were so brutal, it blew out all previous reporting. For a warrior of his stature to unmask the chaos so totally through his own naked stressful confession meant that the unraveling was now uncontrollable for outside forces. COIN had crapped out and not only would our strategy have to be altered, no matter what was being said in public, but even at that we had lost whatever control to influence events enough to connect a country that had never known this type of life.

Recent reports have confirmed just this fact. From the Wall Street Journal:

Internal United Nations maps show a marked deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan during this year’s fighting season, countering the Obama administration’s optimistic assessments of military progress since the surge of additional American forces began a year ago.

[...] Many nongovernment organizations, or NGOs, operating in Afghanistan dispute that any progress has been made by the coalition this year. According to preliminary statistics compiled by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, which provides security advice and coordination to NGOs working in the country, the number of insurgent-initiated attacks surged by some 66% in 2010 from the previous year.

“The country as a whole is dramatically worse off than a year ago, both in terms of the insurgency’s geographical spread and its rate of attacks,” said Nic Lee, director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. “Vast amounts of the country remain insecure for the unarmed civilians, and more and more areas are becoming inaccessible.”

So, even as brilliant as the replacement of McChrystal with Petraeus was, the unfortunate reality is that Pres. Obama didn’t get the message from McChrystal’s career ending confession.

And as we end 2010 there isn’t any politician of either party who has the prowess to lead the U.S. do what’s required and make the tough decision that’s needed, which is to disengage from Afghanistan starting immediately, which would still mean we wouldn’t be out of there for another 16 months or so.

The U.S. is carrying out military operations we cannot afford, that are not helping our nation or making us safer, while keeping us in a hamster wheel of never ending futility on battlefields we are not welcomed and no longer belong.

That we have no one to lead us out of this mess is the most depressingly alarming reality our country faces as the New Year dawns.

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The Political Moment of the Year

By on 30 December 2010

If anyone had any doubts that 2010 was former Pres. Bill Clinton’s year, the moment he took over the White House press room proved the point conclusively.

…and Barack Obama, who never showed Bill Clinton the respect he deserved before becoming president, has a new appreciation for WJC, because former Pres. Clinton did things in 2010 that Pres. Obama couldn’t come close to achieving himself.

Now not only is Sect. Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in the country, but it was her husband who bailed out the Democratic Party’s failed image, because in 2010 Democrats lost their mojo, their heart and connection with middle class Americans, with the end of the year bringing real questions about just what the Democratic Party stands for today.

Unfortunately, Democrats no longer sounding like Democrats is a problem not even William Jefferson Clinton can solve, because the President and congressional progressives ceded way too much territory to the Right.

Pres. Obama remains the most admired man in the country, but this has as much to do with his true appeal as a great father and husband, as well as his general likability, than anything else. It’s not because people trust his leadership, though there’s still time for this to happen, something everyone should hope manifests, though the foreshadowing so far is that if it does it will come at the expense of Democratic Party principles.

As for what precipitated The Political Moment of the Year, there’s no doubt Bill Clinton is the ultimate deal maker, including some real stinkers when president, but when he finally compromises it’s always after he’s made the Right eat political dirt somewhere along the process. Even during his worst of times, while the Right was focused on kicking him out of office, he just kept working and ended up making fools of them when an election they thought was in their hands turned sour for them.

There were many moments in 2010 where former Pres. William Jefferson Clinton proved his prowess, power and popularity with the people. There was, however, never a doubt that he’d be vindicated from the mud slinging swiftboating he endured during the 2008 campaign season, when progressives and Democrats, as well as media personalities, levied unspeakable charges of racism at a man who’d worked his whole life for people of all colors.

In 2010, the Comeback Kid not only did it again, but when he took the White House podium at the end of the year presser, he made everyone miss what Bill Clinton signified for Democrats. He’s a winner. That’s what he always represented to Democrats who endured the hold your nose ’80s, of which I was one. Clinton embodies the tenacious, never give in without making the other guy hurt first, mentality that makes bad deals you have to do go down easier when you know the other guy has had to at least pay a price.

I truly doubt if Pres. Obama will ever bother to learn this lesson.

William Jefferson Clinton is a flawed, supremely human man whose spirit is indomitable. We were reminded of that once again this year, while also being gifted with performances revealing why he always comes out ahead in the end.

So as 2010 closes all’s mended, as Sect. Hillary Clinton very likely prepares to make her exit from State in the near future, with things having come full circle. …and no matter what she says if she wants it, 2016 awaits. If she doesn’t, onward to her international foundation for women, knowing that regardless of the naysayers, in the first two years of Obama’s presidency, the Clintons made a difference and proved their power is transcendent.

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Biggest 2010 Winner: The American Right

By on 29 December 2010

–bumped–

After hailing Pres. Obama’s tax scheme deal with Republicans after the midterm elections, it was interesting this week to see that the Washington Post put Barack Obama in their loser category, which was led by progressives and liberals being the number one losers of the year. The only Democratic winner was Sen. Harry Reid. Here’s the caption under a very sad Reuters’ picture of Pres. Obama:

Loser: President Obama

President Obama took a self-described “shellacking” in the midterm elections after a year of struggling to get any major legislation through Congress. His popularity has tanked, leaving pundits to wonder if he can save his own hide in 2012 — let alone help his fellow Democrats.

Of course, if Pres. Obama had listened to progressives he might not have had such a stinker of a health care bill in ’09, which had him losing the message war to Sarah Palin that led to the Tea Party furor exploding. The overreach of the forced mandate hit critical mass in 2010, with Tea Party Republicans determined to defund “Obamacare,” as they call it, come January, then use it to take Obama down in ’12.

If Pres. Obama continues to ignore the word jobs, they just might be able to do it.

Then there’s the fact that Democrats simply quit acting like Democrats. The Democratic Party’s sad sack 2010 message campaign simply made the Right’s job easier, with the DNC logo above foreshadowing of the worst re-branding in the history of marketing, which was followed by a laughable midterm campaign theme that revolved around foreign money being funneled into campaigns. People hate that crap, but it won’t drive votes to Democrats from mad as hell voters.

Segue to Harold Meyerson:

When it comes to building things, the stimulus, as Lincoln said of Gen. George McClellan, has the slows. Ironically, when we think of our iconic stimulus programs – the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other New Deal public employment programs – we think of the things they built: the Bonneville and Boulder (now Hoover) dams; the Triborough and San-Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges; the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Yorktown; LaGuardia and National (now Reagan) airports; and thousands of schools, post offices and roads.
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What’s more, the New Deal built them at a pace that seems almost incomprehensible today. When the winter of 1933-34 loomed, President Franklin Roosevelt wanted to forestall a wave of starvation in a nation that didn’t yet have unemployment insurance or food stamps. He authorized Harry Hopkins, his jobs-wizard, to create a four-month-long project (the Civil Works Administration) that would employ 4 million people. Beginning operations on Nov. 9, Hopkins had 2.6 million Americans on the job by Christmas and 4.3 million by February – this in a nation of 125 million. In their four months on the jobs, they built or improved 40,000 schools and 998 airports.

The Right’s huge year couldn’t have happened without an epic collapse of the Democratic Party purpose and messaging. There have been few years of utter political incompetence to match what happened in 2010, with the end of the year begging the question What do Democrats stand for?, or better yet, What are they prepared to fight for?

The only answer I can come up with after watching them in 2010 is nothing.

Yes, Republicans were always going to pick up seats in the House and Senate, but after having Sarah Palin beat the crap out of them on messaging before you’d think they’d have been prepared for a doubling down by the Right, as momentum against all things Obama built to the midterm crescendo.

Post shellacking, Democrats are running scared.

Pres. Obama doubled the Right’s midterm rout by finishing the year flip flopping on his campaign rhetoric against Bush tax cuts, taking a page from Bush 41′s “read my lips no new taxes” debacle, then doubled down on his flip flop by using Bush and Rush arguments to make the case for mill-billionaire tax cuts utilizing fearmongering that would make any wingnut proud or at least happy.

Those of you around in ’08, however, will also remember candidate Obama using this tactic on Hillary Clinton, calling her “Republican-lite,” even though he’s the one who ended up siding with banks on the foreclosure debacle, another issue Obama wouldn’t use to benefit Democrats before the midterms.

That’s how badly the Democratic Party is stuck out on a limb on this one.

Although the Right was always going to have a good midterm, the Democratic Party aided them in their cause by being so totally and completely inept in making the case for anything Democratic that the meaning of being a Democrat has vanished, gone up in smoke, pfft! The whole sorry spectacle culminated in Pres. Obama and Democrats making the Right’s case for them on economics to end the year.

This is a criminal case of political malpractice, because it’s through Democratic Party economic policy that we got Social Security, Medicare and every other social policy that aids the people, including funding to keep this country’s infrastructure from crumbling, but also our public health system from fraying. Now, I could go on and on, but you catch my drift, because I’ve been writing about it for months and months.

At every turn Democrats ceded territory to Republicans, moving rightward on policy, Pres. Obama appointing a Deficit Commission himself, then adding to the deficit through a tax cut scheme that isn’t paid for and embraced trickle down economics.

It sets up the Tea Party packed 112th Congress perfectly, which has quite a few Democrats up in ’12 that are already signaling they’ll play too. See Tester on the Dream Act, and Jim Webb on the tax issue, because he’s already got a Tea Party challenger.

Everyone is on a Right track. Austerity is in. Cutting spending is in… while hoisting wildly ridiculous tax cuts for mill-billionaires, continuing defense expenditures that make no sense, including deployments that should end goes on and on, just as if George W. Bush was still in office. With Obama’s indefinite detention about to hit the fan there is little else to say.

All Pres. Obama wants is a second term and he’s going to do whatever it takes to get it. That’s understandable and he’ll have lots of help, because when people look at what Republicans would do if they owned Washington it’s scary to contemplate, especially since we’re talking about Michele Bachmann leading the way.

However, now that Democrats have joined in on the Right’s economic plans, with Obama long ago catering to corporate interests, which is what every presidential candidate must do in our system to get to the White House, the truth is it doesn’t matter very much who wins in ’12.

There simply isn’t much difference between Democrats and Republicans anymore, though there hasn’t been for a long time.

However, at least the Right is alive and taking on the Republican establishment.

Nobody’s going to take on Pres. Obama. The Democrats are stuck with him.

And that means our country is shit out of luck.

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Maybe She Can Cast a Spell

By on 29 December 2010

Christine O’Donnell may have new problems as the New Year dawns.

From the Associated Press:

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

… The U.S. Attorney’s office has confirmed it is reviewing a complaint about O’Donnell’s campaign spending filed by a watchdog group, but officials in the office and the FBI declined to say whether a criminal investigation was under way.
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O’Donnell, who set a state record by raising more than $7.3 million in a tea party-fueled campaign this year, has long been dogged by questions about her finances.

Former aides of O’Donnell’s have stirred the pot, but it remains to be seen whether it will develop into something serious.

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2010 Unsung Hero Award: First Lady v. Sarah Edition

By on 28 December 2010

The debate heated up last month as Congress was considering a $4.5 billion childhood nutrition program, backed by Michelle Obama, that expands eligibility for school meals programs, establishes nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools and provides a six-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals. The bill cleared the Senate unanimously in August and easily passed the House, 264-157, earlier this month. – Palin takes hit from the right for picking food fight with Michelle Obama

With an an “estimated 34.2% of U.S. adults aged 20 years and over are overweight, 33.8% are obese, and 5.7% are extremely obese,” according to the CDC, First Lady Michelle Obama’s quiet perseverance on childhood obesity, diet and healthier life choices was the most important campaign waged in 2010. Entitled “Let’s Move,” Mrs. Obama is the heroine of the year for taking it on.

It’s simply a bonus that she made Sarah Palin look like a fool while doing it.

“Where are the s’mores ingredients?” the sharp-elbowed hockey mom growled in Sunday’s episode of her outdoorsy TLC show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” “This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert,” Palin said mockingly as she rummaged through her kitchen cupboards for graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. – Sarah Palin mocks Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign

With Palin’s popularity plummeting, she may have to hold on to her 2010 Tea Party midterm victory, which made her the obvious “Person of the Year,” as her biggest hurrah. The smarter move for Palin, which should have been a no brainer for a politician needing to expand her base, would have been to embrace First Lady Michelle Obama’s kids’ health campaign. But for whatever reason the idiocy of her advisers seems to revolve around contrarianism for the sake of it, even when what she’s railing against is wiser than what she’s advocating. It’s this stubbornness to embrace a good idea even if it’s not yours that gives us a peek into Sarah’s deep-seated insecurity. It’s one reason she could be dangerous if allowed to rise further, as she possesses the same unawareness that George W. Bush had that got us into a self-defeating war in Iraq, with Sarah’s preoccupation being Iran instead.

The fact is that though there are undoubtedly illnesses and infections that come out of the blue, the majority of our health ills are self-inflicted, many coming straight from our own diets, as well as the stresses of our life we let get out of control. A simple act of changing your diet is a beginning, as long as you realize it’s a lifestyle choice at its foundation, which will inevitably also attack the stress you’re living. I know this through my own life and the journey I began in my late teens to become healthier and more in control over my health. It began by curing myself of migraines, with other benefits of a healthier diet a contagion of positive manifestations.

No one has to be fat, out of shape, unhealthy, laden with mood swings or at the whim of outside forces.

First Lady Michelle Obama has quietly worked to begin to revolutionize thinking on childhood obesity, which has the added benefit of instilling self-control and discipline in one area of a person’s life that impacts all others, too.

Everyone should stand with her, but also take another step by taxing sugary drinks and sodas, which are fat breeders and mood enhancers that don’t do anything good for young people. Fighting the soft drink industry is tough work, but someone should take them on.

From Fred Hiatt, who gets this one correct:

For the nation, it could be bankrupting. Obesity and its attendant ills already may add as much as $147 billion to health-care costs each year, one-tenth of the nation’s medical bill, a figure that is certain to rise. And the Army reports that one in four young people is too fat to serve.

Anyone who has been at an airport recently can see the problem for yourself.

We are a fat, lazy, overeating nation.

It’s costing us, including through our health care plans, because we pay for the illnesses of people who don’t have the willpower to take control over their own life through their eating, which is the strongest area of prevention of disease each of us actually can control.

Now if Mrs. Obama could just get Pres. Obama to stop smoking for good.

As for what you can do for your own health as the New Year approaches, make the decision to join a gym in January. Get your cardio up and your heart pumping. Working out will also help with the stress that’s killing you. It’s the absolute best thing you can do for those who love you.

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Larry Flynt Helping Julian Assange Makes Hefner Look Silly

By on 28 December 2010

As mega porn producer Larry Flynt flexes his political passions by donating $50,000 to help bail out Julian Assange, Hugh Hefner goes for the magic boner pill of PR. As relevancy goes, Hefner has proven he’s not.

Flynt, who took his First Amendment beliefs all the way to the Supreme Court against Jerry Falwell, only to come out crippled by a man trying to murder him on the way out of court, may be the king of the ugly smut tabloid, however, versus Hef’s tired “girl next door” cliche’ at least Flynt can still be stirred by something beyond himself and his empire. From Flynt last week:

Here’s what I know about censorship: The free flow of information is ultimately less harmful than the impeded flow of information. A democracy cannot exist without total access to the facts.

Now, I’ve met Mr. Flynt. He’s quite a character that’s for sure, but he paid a pretty big price for taking on the Right, showing a hell of a lot of courage in the process.

…and for those readying the ridiculous “rape apologist” squeal, which has been leveled at everyone from Keith Olbermann to myself, let’s try to think and chew gum at the same time. Mr. Assange will have to prove his innocence on the charges being leveled, which have nothing whatsoever to do with Wikileaks and the importance of transparency and free access to information, even dramatic diplo dish.

Meanwhile, in a move that would make the “Mad Men” marketing kings proud, 84 year-old Hugh Hefner gave 24-year-old blonde bombshell Crystal Harris an engagement ring for Christmas.

After rumors of money troubles surfaced again in late fall, the cynical, some would say savvy (that would include moi), are speculating Hef’s latest love story is simply a marketing stunt. After all, it’s not like that isn’t where Hef began his truly amazing America saga.

TM.com wishes Hef and Crystal all the happiness in the world, even if imagining a gender reversal and subsequent photo of an 84 year-old woman getting married to a 24 year-old man, aka Wrinkled Crone Weds Hunk, makes me cackle.

But it’s still Larry Flynt who leads the rebel smut purveyors in standing up for freedom of speech, no matter how offensive the material sometimes is this American tenet protects.

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2010: Biggest Loser Category

By on 27 December 2010

In 2000, back when Independents weren’t all that sexy, I knew quite a few people, including those in my own family, who would have voted for John McCain for President. Then came South Carolina and George W. Bush neutering this once maverick politician, helping turn him into an unprincipled lackey of the Right, exactly the kind of man he’d always abhorred.

But whatever McCain let Bush and Karl Rove do to him in South Carolina and beyond, leading to him also having to saddle up to aid the bumbling Texan to win the presidency, nothing compared to what losing to Barack Obama in ’08 did to the Arizona Senator. McCain never liked Barack Obama and also never respected him, so watching him do the job he feels should have been his has not only made Sen. McCain very cranky, but it’s hardened his bitterness into a fine human crust.

But McCain’s humiliation wasn’t complete after losing in ’08.

When his reelection rolled around, McCain had to double down on flip flops, airing commercials having him say things like “build the dang fence,” while trying to prove to the Tea Party crowd he was one of them. To make matters worse it wasn’t working, so he had to call in a big gun.

This entailed eating a lot of crow.

In 2010, up against a tough midterm election, after a reported nightmare presidential campaign with Sarah Palin that had McCain’s people leaking to the press that she was a “diva” and a “whack job,” the Senator from Arizona was forced to ask Sarah to help save his Senate seat.

In Sarah Palin rolled heaping praise on Sen. McCain as he and Cindy stood behind her looking like they were both about to hurl at the indignity. His star long ago tarnished, he was now left to wonder if his entire legacy would revolve around his unleashing of the force that is Sarah Palin; the power from this clout she in turn used to awaken a simmering network of infuriated Tea Party activists, lighting a fire under them so hot that they wiped out Democrats in Congress and went on to slam the entire Republican Party, which is in the throes of an identity crisis that has yet to fully play out.

The Democratic Party is hitting their own crisis of what it means to be a Democrat, but they just don’t know it yet.

At the end of 2010 John McCain then pronounced the repeal of DADT as being “a very sad day,” while he also blocked a military suicide prevention bill.

Whatever kind of man Sen. John McCain was that inspired Independents to praise him back in 2000, he certainly isn’t today.

Of course, to be fair, the man who beat him in ’08 also had many of these same Independent people vote for him in 2008 that McCain had on his side in 2000, but these same people have cooled on Barack Obama, too. The President shouldn’t worry, because Independents are fickle and there remains no one on the Right who can take him down, at least not yet.

Juan Williams took this on directly by calling out one GOP potential presidential candidate, saying Sarah Palin “can’t stand on the intellectual stage” with President Obama. Beyond the intellectual issue, Republicans have a lot more troubles and it runs deep.

Regardless of Independent voters, who seem to be very personality driven in their politics, where John McCain is concerned he’s proven why he’s not president today. He’s a loser, which in 2010 was driven home like a nail through his political heart.

Oh, sure, he won reelection, but selling your soul has a price and for Sen. John McCain the sale has been finalized.

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Waiting for Snow, News Edition

By on 26 December 2010



Washington, D.C. has been on a winter storm snow watch for over 24 hours. It started snowing yesterday morning, then stopped, then last night started again. The forecasters, who we’ve found are always on the mark, say it’s coming. We can’t wait.

…as for the picture, it’s one of the many birds, Mr. Woodpecker, that gift us with his presence. Yesterday we even caught sight of one of the Bald Eagles the live in our area. Nature’s Christmas gift, of the daily nature.

Now for a little news, starting with Congress, not exactly Crooks ‘r Us (also see t4h’s In the News diary) but certainly offensive, though unsurprising.

For three weeks in June, for instance, the members of a joint House and Senate committee worked to draft final rules for regulating the financial industry in the wake of its 2008 meltdown. During that time, the 35 members of the drafting committee collected $440,000 in donations from that same industry, which was then lobbying heavily for looser rules.

Earlier this month, the chairman of the Senate committee overseeing tax policy, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), gave himself a birthday-party fundraiser – on the same day that the chamber took its first vote on an $858 billion tax package that would provide breaks to wealthy citizens and business interests.

Members of Congress contacted for this article declined to answer questions about ethics rules and the possible appearance of impropriety. Instead, they stressed that their votes can’t be bought.

“Money has no influence on how Senator Baucus makes his decisions,” Baucus spokeswoman Kate Downen said. “The only factor that determines Senator Baucus’s votes is whether a policy is right for Montana and right for our country.”

One piece of news that caught my eye. Let’s just say we could be hearing a revived Sarah Palin “death panels” cry coming to a cable channel near you very soon. From the New York Times:

Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.

Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill.

The final version of the health care legislation, signed into law by President Obama in March, authorized Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations, or wellness visits. The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.

No doubt this will be used to make the case that “Obamacare,” as the Right calls it, should be defunded, because they won’t be able to repeal it. That can only happen if Obama loses in ’12, with Republicans needing a strong candidate to prove they can achieve it, which so far they do not have.

Bradley Manning is “frazzled.” I bet.

Pres. Obama and Congress won’t deal with it, but Mexico continues to unravel on our southern border, something that threatens us a hell of a lot more than Iraq or Afghanistan.

What the (ahem) ‘smart set” is reading, may the gods help us. Obviously, the people who could keep us from cratering further into the abyss missed this list. Best one for the money remains Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big To Fail.” Buy it. Read it.

POLITICO’s best & worst of YouTube brings back memories of just how incompetent Tim Kaine was as DNC chairman. If there was a worse choice it was Michael Steele at the RNC, with both men completely worthless in their jobs.

Now it’s your turn. The floor is yours. Enjoy your Sunday. For a little history see spincitysd’s In the News diary, and for fun try Sandman’s “In the News” kitty cartoon. Hilarious.

Hope your Christmas was half as relaxing, music and fun-filled as mine.

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Christmas.

By on 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas! …it’s even snowing here, with predictions of some serious accumulation.

But what I want to know is what did you get your pet(s) for Christmas. Our kitties are stoned on premium catnip after a treat way beyond their usual dry food.

After all, animals need Christmas too.

The Blue Jays came down for peanuts, while the woodpecker enjoyed his snack, with the Cardinals circling, and The Hawk hoping a fatty nut eater would linger a little too long.

Enjoy this magical day.











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Very Merry Christmas to You.

By on 24 December 2010

It’s very merry indeed for Pres. Obama’s favorite corporate friends, who are being allowed to do business with anyone they choose, including black-listed nations.

“It’s not a bad thing to grant exceptions if it represents a conscious policy decision to give countries an incentive,” said Stuart Eizenstat, who oversaw sanctions policy for the Clinton administration when the humanitarian-aid law was passed. “But when you create loopholes like this that you can drive a Mack truck through, you are giving countries something for nothing, and they just laugh in their teeth. I think there have been abuses.”

What’s more, in countries like Iran where elements of the government have assumed control over large portions of the economy, it is increasingly difficult to separate exceptions that help the people from those that enrich the state. Indeed, records show that the United States has approved the sale of luxury food items to chain stores owned by blacklisted banks, despite requirements that potential purchasers be scrutinized for just such connections.

It’s a tough job playing Grinch amidst oblivious applause, though I do find the discomfort from Charles Krauthammer delicious, but since few others are doing it…



Ho. Ho. Ho.

It’s almost here.

…and to our troops across the globe serving, fighting or standing a watch, we know you signed up for the duty, but we also know the sacrifices you make, including those of your families. We never forget… no matter where you are in the world, though why we’re still on duty in some spheres is a sobering example in just how mismanaged U.S. priorities remain.

Combat zones
* Iraq
* Afghanistan

Additionally, we have troops serving in…
* Africa
* Kenya
* Cairo, Egypt
* Sinai Desert, Egypt
* South Korea
* Japan
* Philippines
* Diego Garcia
* Jakarta, Indonesia
* Singapore
* Thailand
* Malaysia
* Australia
* Marshall Islands
* New Zealand
* Germany
* Souda Bay, Greece
* Italy
* United Kingdom
* Spain
* Norway
* Sweden
* Belgium
* Portugal
* Netherlands
* Greece
* Greenland
* France
* Poland
* Turkey
* Qatar
* Bahrain
* Kuwait
* Oman
* United Arab Emirates
* Antigua
* Colombia
* Saint Helena
* Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
* Netherlands Antilles

Merry Christmas.



This post has been updated.

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Why Is This Guy Smiling?

By on 23 December 2010



They like him, they really like him.

But why do they like him?

Remember that post I did with all those graphics that proved Pres. Obama caving to Republicans was popular even if it didn’t do anything for our foundational economics, let alone the Democratic Party or brand?

Well, here we go again. Via a CNN/Opinion Research Corp survey:

According to a new national poll, it looks like President Barack Obama is that winner, and his strategy of cooperating with congressional Republican leaders may be the key to his success.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey indicates that 56 percent of Americans say they approve of the way Obama’s handled the issues that Congress has considered during the lame duck session, with 41 percent saying they disapprove.

Translation: “cooperating” meaning caving, because the ones who got the better end of Obama’s economic scheme were Republicans, because they had a Democratic President with a majority making the Bush tax cut argument for them, while cutting the Left off at the knees on their own priorities.

But presidential popularity has a price, which Barack Obama is all too willing to pay.

Like a trained seal, politicians are.

They only do what’s good for their own careers, screw the people who have little or no power, which is why the “99ers” got squat, but the mill-billionaires raked it in, as the middle class got a lesser deal.

Never mind that the 2011 continuing spending resolution will come back around in March and can now be crafted by the Tea Party austerity crowd, because Pres. Obama has tacked so far rightward he actually helped make “austerity” the word of the year.

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9/11 Responders Squeezed, SALT Treaty Ratified

By on 22 December 2010

The bill passed after Senate Democrats struck a deal Wednesday with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who agreed to drop his objections when the cost of the bill was reduced by about $2 billion. The Oklahoma Republican had come under withering criticism for opposing the bill on the grounds that it provided “overly generous funding” and included “unnecessary and duplicative compensation funds.” – Oklahoma Senator Allows Vote After Bill To Care For Responders Is Cut to $4.2 Billion

At a time when Pres. Obama didn’t pay attention to the people, instead caving to Republicans on economics, it’s fitting that Sen. Coburn won, too. Yes, he gave in finally, but that’s because he got the 9/11 heroes and responders bill cut by $1.5 in benefits and $2.7 in compensation. This schmuck voted yes for the mill-billionaires tax cuts, exempting them from the estate tax, as well as capital gains goodies, but it’s wasteful to give 9/11 responders their due. The fund will also extinguish after five years. So all you 9/11 heroes, get sick now and get well quick, because your benefits and compensation turn into a pumpkin in five.

Indecision Forever, has the perfect headline: Senate Republicans Reluctantly Agree to Maybe Throw a Few Coins at Sickly First Responders.

But that’s the conscience of a conservative for you. They don’t have one.

Meanwhile, the good guys won on START. That doesn’t include many, many Republicans.

Danger Room has a good rundown on the new nuclear arms treaty, but suffice to say that Republicans were made to look like fools when Admiral Mullen, who’s been a keen, cagey and very important political figure recently, urged passing of the new START Treaty. From Spencer Ackerman:

The headlines first: New START caps strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 on each side. (According to the nuke wonks at the Ploughshares Fund, the Russians have 2,600 strategic nuclear weapons and the United States has just under 2,000.) The intercontinental ballistic missiles, subs and bombers that deliver them have to be capped at 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers.

By most arms-control experts’ accounts, these are pretty modest cuts, still allowing each side to incinerate the Earth several times over.

Additionally, every year, each side will conduct 18 on-site inspections at places where those warheads and delivery vehicles are stored. That’s 10 annual inspections fewer than under the old treaty, but more data is extracted from each inspection.

The treaty does not deal with missile defense, a favorite Republican toy. More from Ackerman:

The closest it comes is to bar each side from converting its intercontinental and sub-launched ballistic-missile launchers into delivery mechanisms for anti-ballistic-missile interceptors.

It’s amazing what can happen in a lame duck session, isn’t it?

Big Loser award: Sen. John McCain.

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Military Equality for Gays Begins

By on 22 December 2010

–updated below–



Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has a warning for gay servicemen and women, however.

***SLDN WARNING TO SERVICE MEMBERS – DADT is STILL in EFFECT***

The bottom line is DADT is still in effect and it is NOT safe to come out.

This is the case many readers, led by activist and regular commenter on the subject Joyce Arnold, have been making since the Senate passed the repeal last weekend. It’s an important point.

It’s the beginning of military change that will require continued vigilance to make sure the repeal is implemented and that soldiers don’t get caught in the cross-fire as it’s being done.

None of this should take away from the importance of the repeal of DADT, which is the starting point of all progress going forward.

…and now it’s done.

One thing to add is at the signing Pres. Obama hugged Army Iraq war veteran Rep. Patrick Murphy who lost his seat in the midterms, but was the main leader on repealing DADT. That he was there to see this done had to give him tremendous joy.

Again, SecDef Gates and Admiral Mullen, especially, deserve great praise for their heartfelt testimony. Mullen put it in terms of integrity, saying that soldiers were asked to lie, which is something against the Military Code. It was a huge moment.

It’s a great day in America.

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Another Reason It’s Good To Be A Liberal

By on 21 December 2010

Sen. Tom Coburn should be ashamed of himself.

Sen. Mitch McConnell should too.

Where are these supposed “Christians” when American heroes and other citizens need help?

They’re more worried about tax cuts for the mill-billionaire club and the heirs of wealthy estates.


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WikiLeaks Further Proves 2010 Middle East Story Is Sad

By on 21 December 2010

President Obama will not be thwarted on the START Treaty by Republicans, regardless of Sen. Lindsay Graham’s caterwauling. Today’s Republicans bear no resemblance of their hero Ronald Reagan, as Sarah Palin’s recent Iran op-ed proves. Reagan was a leader on nuclear zero, but today would be run out of his own party. Playing politics with national security is one thing the Right does best, but which the media never seems to call them on. While looking across to Pres. Obama’s foreign policy plate, even beyond the depressing reality in Afghanistan he won’t acknowledge, as well as the Special Operations ground raids in Pakistan, the reality is far more worrisome. Nowhere more so than in the Middle East.

After Pres. Obama’s adamant policy against further Israeli settlements being built, a WikiLeaks cable now points to a “secret accord” for “natural growth” to be allowed. No one who follows the Middle East will be surprised, but it does once again reveal the importance of transparency. When your president and his administration is preening one policy with cables pointing to something else, it goes against what our democratic republic is all about. No wonder PM Netanyahu has ignored Pres. Obama on settlements.

No doubt feeling empowered, Mr. Netanyahu’s very public campaign to free convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard puts more pressure on Obama, who soon has to think about his reelection.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will officially and publicly appeal to President Obama in the coming days for the release of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the American serving a life term in a North Carolina prison for spying for Israel, Mr. Netanyahu’s office announced Tuesday.

A public request, as opposed to Israel’s discreet efforts in the past, would constitute a new approach in the campaign for Mr. Pollard’s release and an additional twist in a long and painful chapter in Israeli-American relations. …

Last week I wrote about the realities in East Jerusalem after a forum held by Daniel Levy at New American Foundation. His guests were attorney Tali Nir and Hagai El-Ad, both of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which is Israel’s oldest and preeminent civil and human rights organization. The findings reveal a chilling reality. Children between 8-13 are being arrested. Israeli security guards help Israels versus the Palestinians. There is little health care, plumbing, water, or schools. As for the PLO, they’re not allowed to operate, but don’t exactly make an effort either, many people feeling the “PA has deserted” the people, according to Nir and El-Ad.

Then there was the State Dept.’s nonchalance over the detention of Adeeb Abu Rahma, which you can see in this video, which reveals another weakness in the Obama administration’s policy. The happy ending here is that Abu Rahma finally, at long last been released after 17 months in prison. The State Dept.’s deplorable diplo ducking gives a window into just how important the unveiling of secrets by Wikileaks was, because it reminds us that our government treats its citizens like children while conducting foreign policy that ignores peaceful dissidents. There is simply no good excuse for State or the Obama administration for their handling of this other than Pres. Obama doesn’t want to rile the Right, his new best friends in deal making. After all, what would it look like if the American President was seen being fair to a Gandhi style Palestinian? More importantly, what would it mean to his reelection, which must be protected above doing what’s right,

Now, aid groups sound off against the Israeli government over their difficult reality in Gaza, which sounds very similar to what the Israeli government is doing in East Jerusalem, especially in the thwarting of building schools. Evidently Netanyahu’s government is shockingly clueless as to what breeds terrorism, which can begin with young people with no hope and no future. The Israeli government continuing to be stunningly short-sided.

Instead, aid groups say, Israeli bureaucracy and bottlenecks at border crossings are snarling the delivery of materials to international relief organizations struggling to build much-needed housing, schools and infrastructure projects.

“The United Nations, who have a responsibility to help, we’re the ones that are held up,” John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s Gaza operations, said in an interview. “We’re held up from building schools. We’re held up from our other infrastructure projects, from the housing people need. And, yet, for the other parts of society here – be that either those with ulterior agendas or people who just have money – they can get on with it.”

… Securing Israeli approval of projects requires weeks or even months of negotiations and the sign-off of up to six Israeli agencies, according to Gisha, an Israeli nongovernmental group that tracks movement and access problems between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

“Hundreds of hours of staff time and millions of dollars are spent on documenting each nut and bolt – as if we were supervising the transfer of highly specialized weapons, and despite the fact that steel, concrete and gravel enter Gaza quite freely via the tunnels,” said Sari Bashi, Gisha’s executive director. …

… But Ging says his main concern is schools. Israel has approved six out of 100 the agency says it needs to build to accommodate 40,000 eligible children. “Overcrowded classrooms, tens of thousands of children failing academically, all of these things, they have long-term detrimental consequences,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury to deal with that after the peace process.” …

Since demanding the stoppage of settlement building, which has been unmasked by Wikileaks, Pres. Obama has lost all leverage against the self-defeating policies of the Netanyahu government. What began with great promise two years ago with Obama hasn’t amounted to squat.

Long-time activists working for a Palestinian state will never give up, many of them Jews, because they know that demographics are not on Israel’s side. The alternative to moving forward unthinkable.

But whatever Pres. Obama once hoped to do in the Middle East is gone. Democrats respect him, but in the hard boiled land of Middle East politics he’s proven himself very weak, with the midterms rendering him even weaker as the tax scheme deal demonstrated. Going forward it’s the Right who has the might in the Middle East and that’s not good for the Palestinians, which means it’s also bad for Israel.

This essay has been edited and cross-posted at Huffington Post.

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Cue Loud Clapping After Obama Gets Played

By on 20 December 2010

This is a tale of Pres. Obama’s failed leadership as seen through graphics.

It is also the tale of how Pres. Obama decided to do what he did and the part the press plays in helping him neuter Democratic Party priorities.

You can add to the graphics people like Chris Matthews and others like Katty Kay, and Joe Klein of TIME, all applauding Pres. Obama for being outmaneuvered by Republicans on the tax cut scheme just passed, though they don’t realize or care that’s what happened. They also don’t care about Democratic policies.

The graphic below is from the newly released CNN poll just conducted (more via pdf). The internals also tell why the new “No Labels” groups is getting some traction, but also why the “new comeback kid” is being laughingly bestowed on Pres. Obama. People think caving is cool, because the details and payment for moving rightward hasn’t sunk in yet.



Below are two dueling headlines that reveal the media duality in the era of Obama. Beltway media versus Movement Progressives:





Are you hearing me now?

Whenever a Democrat caves to the Right the conventional wisdom is to trumpet exactly what POLITICO is screaming, which will be mimicked by many establishment players.

Pres. Obama “won” on taxes, because he made the media happy by caving to minority leader Mitch McConnell even though the public backed the line liberal progressives wanted him to hold.

When Obama said it was a lot like the public option he wasn’t kidding. Just not in the way he meant it.

Oddly, however, even though Sen. Al Franken lectured that Obama punted on 1st down, while the House threw a kabuki tantrum, let’s remember that the majority of Democrats fell in line to back the boss, regardless of the cards they had to play but didn’t.

Just like with the public option, the people were on the side of Democrats when it came to where the tax cuts should end, yet Pres. Obama didn’t play the cards he had, but instead caved to Mitch McConnell. The rest of the Democrats went along to save Obama’s presidency.

What made it worse was that Mr. Obama and Democrats also adopted the language of George W. Bush and the economic Right to get it done, using fearmongering and saying “taxes would go up” in January if Democrats didn’t cave to Republicans, when in reality taxes would simply revert back to the 90s Clinton era rates. The decade that manifested balanced budgets and 22 million jobs, plus a surplus that Bush squandered on wars and tax cuts he didn’t pay for.

Pres. Obama’s epic leadership failures just keep on mounting for Democrats and it’s not going to get any better once the Tea Party crowd comes into town.

However, the establishment clapping is so loud in honor of compromise, never mind it was from Obama and Democrats who still have the majority, that many in the public think the austerity to come is actually a good thing. If you’re one of these people you’ve been bamboozled and hoodwinked.

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The Difference a President Makes

By on 20 December 2010

If John McCain had been elected president instead of Barack Obama, the repeal of DADT would have been headed for veto at his desk. With Pres. Obama, however, it will be signed. It’s things like this that make even the most annoyed voter understand why they voted for Obama, especially the people who don’t pay attention to details. That’s most Americans, in case you were wondering.

It’s also why Pres. Obama had no problem ignoring what former Pres. Bill Clinton did in the 90s, which was to let tax rates for the rich rise, while giving the middle class a tax cut. Instead, Obama gave minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans a win on taxes, letting the top 2% benefit, while also ignoring Sen. Schumer’s much better plan of taxing $1 million plus, with the President hoping his tax bargain with the Right would seduce more Independent voters, who have walked away from Obama since health care. Meanwhile, the win has emboldened minority leader Mitch McConnell to challenge Pres. Obama on the new START Treaty.

Pres. Obama did all of this with a Democratic majority. Republicans took note.

What Pres. Obama didn’t do in the tax debate was lead. He followed the Republicans, because he won’t stand on a line against ridiculous economic policy, which includes tax cuts for the top 2%, as well as estate tax largesse. A strong Democrat would have demanded an expiration of the top tax cuts, plus pushed for an increase comporable to the Clinton years, then also adopted Schumer’s $1 million plus plan, while making a way for the “99ers” to also get relief. But Pres. Obama is not a strong Democrat.

The leftover anger over Obama’s rightward lurch on the tax deal is very real, but the media is aiding Obama by applauding his “pragmatism,” while falling all over themselves proclaiming it was a smart move for him.

What it wasn’t was strong leadership of the Democratic Party and the policy ideals for which the Left stands. It leaves progressive activists in a very bad position.

The media all ready to proclaim yet again, as Katty Kay did on “The Chris Matthews Show,” that the country a “center-right” nation whether it is or not.

Pres. Obama doesn’t care as long as his compromises and deal making lead to his reelection in ’12, which is now all anything is about.

Democratic die hards, however, have a different challenge, which Independents and the non-political-vote-once-every-four-years voters don’t care about and never consider. Is Barack Obama’s reelection more important than the Democratic Party?

Former Pres. Bill Clinton changed welfare, gave us a derivatives mess, and slapped labor with NAFTA, but today he remains the most gifted political mind of the modern era, because he also made Republicans sweat, humiliated them in a government shutdown and outplayed them when they thought he was a goner. Pres. Obama cannot claim to have cost Republicans anything, because he caved to their economics during a time when he still had a Democratic majority, something Bill Clinton didn’t enjoy. Clinton’s prowess made more evident during the Friday presser where Clinton stole the stage and made Obama look small, though the President helped by excusing himself to go to a Christmas party.

So far, Pres. Obama has passed a flawed, pro insurance health care, Supreme Court bound bill, will sign DADT repeal, and has compromised many things on which Democrats have compaigned, including himself, the last 10 years. If Pres. Obama also changes Social Security for future generations, with Independents likely to hail his “compromise” with Republicans, with a lot of helping from the media, the entire debate set up through Obama’s Deficit Commission and the tax cut scheme compromise, he may get another term, but it will be on Republican terms. We haven’t even begun to talk about the Middle East, where the Right will also prevail, or Afghanistan and other foreign policy issues.

What Obama’s reelection would mean for the Democrat Party if it comes at the cost of not only supporting Bush economics, but also the Right’s view of changes on Social Security and Medicare, is another thing entirely.

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The Sunday Early Bird Round-Up

By on 19 December 2010

Early bird gets the worm!

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I am not- methinks I may be getting the flu or something suspiciously like it. But this isn’t about me!



On this day in history, December 19th 1777, George Washington led his army to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.

Have some links

~RIP Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, 1993-2010. The Pentagon is warning that it will take time to make the changes- the POTUS and Pentagon have to certify that the changes won’t hurt the military’s combat capability (didn’t we do that already?) and then a waiting period is triggered. Stay tuned

~It’s not often that I agree with Dana Milbank but he does a good job calling out McCain’s bizarre behavior with respect to DADT. It would be one thing if McCain hadn’t totally flip-flopped on the issue, but given he has, his rage-filled self-righteousness has become tedious.

~The Democrats are now saying that the 9/11 first responders bill may finally pass this week. This is actually a rare case of the Democrats being on message with this and really pushing the issue front and center. Speaking of which, if Fox News’ Shep Smith keeps this up, he’s going to find himself on the wrong side of Rupert Murdoch.

~It’s time we call the U.S. Chamber of Congress what they are- unpatriotic.

~Someone in the Swedish police seems to have leaked the actual police report detailing the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

~Nick Kristoff gives us a humanitarian gift guide for the holidays.

~Justice Scalia takes another step towards eroding the confidence the public has in the Supreme Court. Apparently he has accepted an invitation from the Tea Party to give a Conservative Constitutional Seminar. Chief Justice John Roberts should tell Scalia to stay at home.

~Why is the FHFA refusing to do it’s part to help the housing crisis? Why isn’t it doing it’s job and allowing principal reductions and other mortgage modifications under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as instructed? Congress dropped the ball when it didn’t take the opportunity to overhaul Fannie and Freddie, particularly given the hundred billion dollar bailout they received from the US taxpayer.

~The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, reiterated that the U.S. is “very ready” for confronting Iran, whatever that means. I can’t believe that any military leader actually believes that the US is in a position to make a preemptive strike against another country right now if it could lead to full-scale war. While talking tough about a military strike against Iran may make some people feel better, I hope those same people will advocate for a draft (w/o exemptions except in the most limited circumstances) and/or a war ta in the event that any military strike turns into a full-scale war/regime change operation. I think we’ve become a bit too insulated from the actual horrors of war. It’s easy to advocate for a war in a far-off place that other people will be called upon to fight, while those of us back here in the States are not called upon to sacrifice anything. Anything.

~John Bolton in 2012? Please.

~Lets be honest, the Beltway talking heads love this tax bill. They are heralding it as the opening for Obama to be the Comeback Kid! Of course, Obama can’t win in 2012 if his once-upon-a-time (in 2008) energized base decides they would rather stay home and eat cheetos than go and vote for a fence-sitter. Will DADT repeal be enough to keep the base happy for the next two years?

~I don’t usually agree with the WaPo’s Michael Gerson but I do this time- Obama’s annoyed arrogance was on full display during the roll-out of the tax compromise.

~Republican Senator Lindsay Graham took to the floor of the Senate to complain he was too tired to “think” about the new START treaty because it’s right before Christmas and he had a “week from hell” which consisted of him having to “stop some bad ideas” and do a lot of like, legislative stuff. Bwaaaaah. I’d like to take this opportunity to point out to Senator Graham that his START homework was assigned 8 months ago in April and he’s had more than enough time to read it and get his assignment done. 10 points from Slytherin! [for you Harry Potter fans]

~For some reason I can never get videos to embed in posts here but this video will put a smile on your face if you haven’t seen it already.

~A new study found that people who watch Fox News are more uninformed than people who get their news from other sources- like, say, actual news channels.

~Careful CNN, or your viewers may soon be able to challenge Fox for being the most uninformed.

~The WaPo hires another conservative blogger. What’s going on at the WaPo these days?

~The GOP kills the DREAM Act.

~The CIA station chief in Pakistan has been recalled back to the US after his covert identity was disclosed in a lawsuit filed by a Pakistani man after his family members were killed in a drone attack.

~During his speech in Cairo, President Obama called on the Palestinians to renounce violence because it was an unacceptable means of achieving their goals. Secretary Clinton, for her part, has called on governments to abide by international law and work to ensure that the rights of people engaged in non-violent protest, be upheld. The case of Abdallah Abu Rahmah is just such a case but the State Dept. and White House has refused to comment on his ongoing detention despite his being a Palestinian nonviolent protest movement leader. This video really is incredible. I don’t care where one stands on this issue, if we are serious about encouraging nonviolence, then we have to encourage it across-the-board, not just when it’s politically expedient or politically easy.

The End.

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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Heroes are the Soliders

By on 18 December 2010



It’s civil rights history.

Harry S Truman would be proud today of all the brave gay men and women serving who waited patiently 17 years for this Clinton era policy to be overturned. Many Democrats fought diligently to get the job done. The Senate today voting 63-33 to advance DADT.

The final vote to repeal DADT came this afternoon, passing 65-31.

From the New York Times, with a really beautiful picture at the link that says so much:

Capping a 17-year political struggle, the Senate on Saturday cleared the way for repealing the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military.

By a vote of 63 to 33, with six Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate acted to cut off debate on a measure that would let President Obama declare an end to the Clinton-era policy, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allows gay members of the armed forces to serve only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret. The vote indicated that there was easily enough support to push the measure to final passage.

“By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the cloture vote. “And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.”

No group has worked harder than Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, with many activists standing next to them, including my friends Joe Subday and John Aravosis among those working so hard on the political side to keep the pressure on.

In the media, Rachel Maddow never let an opportunity go by to trumpet the injustice of servicemembers who stand on a line to protect this county, our allies and the interests and values for which this country stands.

Sen. Joe Lieberman deserves praise for working tirelessly to bring a stand alone bill to the Senate floor before the end of this session, with Sen. Harry Reid also working diligently to get time for the vote.

While Democrats carved a path to make civil rights history, Republicans disgraced themselves, the pathetic statement of Sen. John McCain representing their moral bankruptcy.

“Today is a very sad day,” McCain sighed later.

Today we can be very thankful that John McCain didn’t become president, because he would have thoroughly disgraced our troops serving on the field of battle and this country through opposing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. No man in political history has fallen further than where he began than Sen. John McCain.

No matter.

It’s a great day for civil rights, with final victory within reach.

Screen capture via Huffington Post. This post has been updated after the final vote in the Senate.

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My $0.02/This Saturday in… Feminists Behaving Badly

By on 18 December 2010

Good morning everyone, Wonk the Vote here. I am having a holiday week from hell and laptop troubles to boot, so my Saturday offerings are going to be on the breezy side as I try to bypass the big-item news stories going on right now. It’s all so depressing, and I need to detox from my own stress. I doubt I’m alone in that!

First up… from Julie Bindel via The Guardian (this past Sunday): “Why feminists are using their eyebrows to celebrate December… We’ve had Movember, but now it’s time for Decembrow – a fun way for feminists to grow a ‘unibrow’ to raise money for charity.”

More from the link: “What do Ava Gardner, Frida Kahlo, Jodie Foster, Keira Knightley and Brooke Shields have in common? You’ve got it – beautiful bushy eyebrows. And now you can too. A campaign led by Feministing, an online feminist community, has proposed growing a “unibrow” this month for a charitable cause of your choice.” Wonk sez: Bindel left out one of my Bollywood favorites from that beautiful bushy brows list–Kajol.

As for the feministing unibrow campaign, much as I love Frida and Kajol, I think I’ll pass on this one!

More power to Bindel, though, who says she’ll be “popping down to [her] local fancy-dress store and buying a stick-on monobrow to show solidarity with [her] sisters.” Also, I think she makes a nice retort in response to the predictable “hairy feminist” taunts from the Concern Trolls Concerned Women for America. (Bindel writes, “Well, considering how often the words ‘hairy’ and ‘feminist’ appear in the same sentence, we may as well live up to the stereotypes for a good cause.”)

So what do you think? Is this just another ineffectual awareness-raising effort… or ’tis the season to sport a Frida-brow?

Alright, next up… The AFP/Herald Sun reported Tuesday that “Ukraine feminists ‘urinate’ in protest… DOZENS of Ukrainian feminists staged an unusual protest against the country’s all-male cabinet, pretending to urinate to show the government had turned into nothing more than a men’s room.” Way to take that Ulrich quote on “well-behaved women seldom making history” and run away with it!

The article continues: “The members of the Femen group – known for its brazen feminist stunts – squirted bottles of water and yellow liquid from their groins outside the government headquarters as a bemused line of police looked on... ‘To urinate standing is not a privilege,‘ said a banner held by one of the estimated 30 protesters. The police did not prevent the protest but also did not allow the women any further towards the government.”

Stand up and… pretend to pee for your rights?

Well, I will say this…the protest certainly did get my attention focused on the Ukraine’s all-male cabinet. So I think this may have a little more sticking power than the Decembrow campaign. But, that’s just my two, heh.

Moving on to something a little less uncouth, but no less threatening to the status quo– from Deutsche Welle: “Women’s publisher focuses on forgotten texts with feminist undertones… Newly established in Germany, the edition fuenf publishing house has a specific focus: books for women, written by women, published by women. Its founder is hoping to satisfy the needs of intelligent female readers.”

…which brings us back to the constant conundrum of whether having a separate category for women’s this, women’s that, or women’s anything is the solution — or is it just perpetuating the problem?

I personally think this “edition fuenf” undertaking sounds intriguing. I hope they publish some English versions.

Okay, now for my two “heavier” links for the week.

Serious read number 1…

If you click on any link in this roundup, I hope it’s this one, from last Friday in the Toronto Star, by Mona Eltahawy: “Let me, a Muslim feminist, confuse you.“ The entire thing is too wonderful to quote just one part. Read it. Now! (Or, as soon as you get a moment to yourself on this penultimate X-mas weekend.)
Serious read number 2…

Published Wednesday in the Independent Weekly, Carolyn McAllaster’s “Elizabeth Edwards: A feminist, a thinker.“ This roundup is already top-heavy, so I’m not going to excerpt. But, if you’re like me–still thinking about Elizabeth–and would love to hear about her feminist work back in her UNC Law School days, click on over and read for yourself.

Before I start wrapping this post up, a mini- Wonk rant (re: the Toronto Star link)…

Though I’m not Muslim, Eltahawy’s words mirror the thoughts that often go through my mind while watching the right wing’s paternalist, self-righteous and singular obsession with “defending” women of color from a certain side of the world. I’m an American Desi woman, a liberal, and a feminist. I oppose misogyny anywhere and everywhere. The right/left/whatever-wing hacks who don’t oppose the same can kindly go shove it. (Nope. I am not a well-behaved woman, Frida-brow or not. End Rant.)

Now for your weekend trivia. This Saturday, December the 18th, in feminist history (click on the links for their bios)…

1814: Josephine Sophia White Griffing was born.
1849: Henrietta Muir Edwards was born.

If you have a half hour to spare somewhere in your weekend, here’s a youtube of a neat interview with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

I’ll close with a light and fluffy feminist link from earlier in the week. Via the Patriot Ledger: “EVERYDAY FEMINIST: Find time to savor the season… Back by popular demand … On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me … twelve guests expected, eleven last-minute presents, ten family dramas, nine kinds of cookies, eight more pounds on my butt, seven sticky-note lists, six nights of no sleep, fiiiiive hungry kids …Four bill collectors, three pairs of high heels, two twisted ankles, and one woman does it all again!“

So what are you reading and ruminating on this Saturday? Let’s have a listen in the comments.

Oh, and Happy Holidays to anyone who made it all the way to the end!

Crossposted at Let Them Listen, Sky Dancing, and Liberal Rapture.

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