Jul 27 2009
The Real News Network talks to Executive Editor Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report.
Ford has a little different take on the situation and analyzing the current political dynamics surrounding the issue says that by excluding a single payer plan, Barack Obama allowed the right to dominate the reform debate, and concludes that the longer the Democrats wait to reform the health care system, the more likely it is that the public is going to turn against the so-called reforms.
Jul 27 2009
We have not yet begun to pester!
John Paul Jones
Damn the Republicans, Full Speed Ahead!
Admiral Farragut
Did we quit when The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor???Senator Bluto Blutarsky
Jul 27 2009
Crossposted at Daily Kos
It’s official. CNN is FOXlite
On Friday, the Southern Poverty Law Center called on CNN to fire Dobbs for trading in “racist conspiracy theories.” And some of Dobbs’ staff at CNN have told him and network executives that they are uncomfortable with his persistent focus on the story.Klein defended Dobbs, saying that the host’s treatment of the so-called “birther” movement has been “legitimate.”
Does this guy even watch his own network? Or does he just prefer to let Dobbs’s xenophobic McCarthyistic mania masquerade as objective journalism?
Jul 27 2009
Ben Bernanke says Fed didn’t act quickly enough to stop reckless mortgage lending
But the central bank’s chairman defends its role in rescuing giant firms such as insurer AIG, saying that it needed to take steps to stave off an economic collapse.
By Don Lee
July 27, 2009
Reporting from Kansas City, Mo. — After taking a pounding in Congress over the economic crisis and the multibillion-dollar bailout of ailing financial firms, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke went to Middle America to try to explain the central bank’s actions and shore up its bruised image.In his efforts to open a window into the traditionally secretive institution, Bernanke conceded to an assembled audience here Sunday that the Federal Reserve did not act soon enough to stop reckless mortgage lending that fueled the global financial crisis.
But he defended the Fed’s part in rescuing giant firms such as insurer American International Group Inc., saying that he was “disgusted” by their reckless behavior but needed to take steps to stave off an economic collapse.“I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression,” he said firmly in an event to be aired this week on the PBS program “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.”
Files Vanished, Young Chinese Lose the Future
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
Published: July 26, 2009
WUBU, China – For much of his education, Xue Longlong was silently accompanied from grade to grade, school to school, by a sealed Manila envelope stamped top secret. Stuffed inside were grades, test results, evaluations by fellow students and teachers, his Communist Party application and – most important for his job prospects – proof of his 2006 college degree.
Everyone in China who has been to high school has such a file. The files are irreplaceable histories of achievement and failure, the starting point for potential employers, government officials and others judging an individual’s worth. Often keys to the future, they are locked tight in government, school or workplace cabinets to eliminate any chance they might vanish.
Jul 27 2009
 Muse in the Morning |
 Splinters
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Jul 27 2009
Welcome to the 18th installment of “Considered Forthwith.”
This weekly series looks at the various committees in the House and the Senate. Committees are the workshops of our democracy. This is where bills are considered, revised, and occasionally advance for consideration by the House and Senate. Most committees also have the authority to exercise oversight of related executive branch agencies.
This week, I will look at the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Forces Committees. Obviously, these members are the ones to contact to advance the bill that would repeal the “Don’t ask/don’t tell policy.” These are also the committees that need a proverbial kick in the pants to advance legislation that would close Gitmo. More information below.
Jul 27 2009
Back in the days when energy was not understood, but after the Aristotelian ideas of the elements were being shot down, folks became interested with why fire “works”. That is not in the least odd, since fire has been simultaneously our best friend and our worst enemy.
Without fire, food would be rather indigestible, especially meats and starchy things. With the heat from fire, those become much better sources of digestible nutrition. With fire, our living structures become comfortable, and without it chillingly cold and very harsh.
But fire has its own way of doing things. Uncontrolled, it is one of most destructive natural, or human created, forces. But it is NOT an element. Neither is Earth, Air, nor Water.
Jul 27 2009
Way back in March of 2009, Rachel explained the “Highway Robbery” which happened on Wall Street, using a few simple word-pictures. (ie. simple Frames). These perhaps deserve a quick review …
Rachel Maddow – Cops and Robbers
Link to Rachel’s very humorous Clip
Great Framing Rachel! … I love it, when Progressive Talkers, make learning FUN! The simpler the Word-Pictures, the better the Frame!
“Is our childrens learning?” as George W. used to ask.
Could be, … Maybe we just needed to “Turn the Page” …
Jul 27 2009
Perhaps there is a recipe for being “provocative” when you do not, after all, want to depart from the economic mainstream – despite the radical incapacities that have come to prominence in the last year – and do not want to upset powerful vested interests.
If I was trying to use Eric Morris’ “Freakonomics Blog” piece for the NYTimes, High-Speed Rail and CO2, to work the recipe out, my guess would be:
So let’s see this recipe at work as Eric Morris does a hack piece trying to argue that HSR funding is bad for CO2 emissions.
H/T to Rafeal at the California HSR Blog for bringing this piece to my attention.
Jul 26 2009
Okay, so there is a lot of consternation about the apparent willingness of the Congress to recess prior to having a health care reform bill from each house finished. The usual doom and gloom birds have been circling and crying that the public option is doomed, we have lost just because the Congress is going to miss a very tight deadline put forth by the president. The Dog would like to point out a couple of things and suggest a course of action.
Jul 26 2009
Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
Now with World and U.S. News.
1 First results due Monday in Iraqi Kurd election
By Tim Cocks and Shamal Aqrawi, Reuters
Sun Jul 26, 11:28 am ET
| ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Preliminary results of elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, widely expected to keep two ruling parties in power despite an unprecedented opposition challenge, will be announced on Monday, Iraq’s electoral commission said.
Kurdish opposition groups are complaining of violations in Saturday’s parliamentary and presidential vote, the first time Kurds have directly elected a leader of their mostly autonomous region, but voting officials say the poll was largely sound. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said the preliminary results would come on Monday evening, according to a statement from the government’s media center. |
