Report on the bogus $73 an hour auto worker pay claim

NY Times has a breakdown on Big 3 auto worker (aka UAW auto worker) pay compared to pay for non-union American auto workers employed by Japanese auto companies. $73 an hour as the median pay is not an accurate claim of course, but there may have to be some pay concessions by Big 3 auto workers to help the Big 3 stay in business.

Be an UberNerd

Just saving a place to read The Compleat UberNerd, a 13-part blog post on the mortgage industry. It was written by the blogger Tanta who just recently passed away due to cancer.

Meat production and global warming emissions

All I do here is save NY Times articles. Here's another good one, this time about the increase in world meat production and the technologies that different countries are trying in order to reduce the global warming emissions associated with the production. But the head of the IPCC has the best solution: reduce meat consumption. And I read this while eating beef flank Vietnamese soup for lunch. Doh!

My stomach is rather full afterwards as the meat sits there. And I tried vegetariandating.com. Hah!!

Good Books

The Times's annual list of the year's notable books and what it views as the 10 best books.

In a recession, for a year now

The NY Times reports that we've been in a recession since December 2007. I thought two consecutive quarters of negative growth constituted, but according to the article, there are more factors (employment, personal consumption, housing prices) involved in declaring whether we're in a recession.

NY Times: One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex

After reading Glenn Greenwald's post yesterday, I want to read this NY Times article about former General Barry McCaffrey's connections to military contractors and his role as a NBC "independent" military analyst.

The Young Turks

These guys have been around for awhile, on Air America, XM radio, but I just discovered them today, and they're great, mainly of course Cenk Uyger. I couldn't stop watching the online show. It's a liberal political show but with an irreverent bent, particularly when it gets around to entertainment and personal stuff. Glenn Greenwald's post today referred to the funny video which I posted two posts ago. Like I wrote, Cenk Uyger was RIGHT ON in his analysis of the mainstream media.

The Young Turks

I'm watching/listening to Cenk now.

It's good enough that I've added a link to them in the right panel.

Slumdog Millionaire - Trailer

Maybe a bit of melodrama to it, but I still want to see this movie. By the director of Trainspotting, Danny Boyle.

How the Mainstream Media Actually Works

Pretty funny and RIGHT ON analysis of the mainstream media.

Brief report on Obama contributors

A short article here in the NY Times about Obama contributors. Turns out the donors may not have been as small as thought. Those $200 contributors were repeat contributors (like me, but just 2 contribs to Obama). Also, though, the percentage of large contributors was not as high as in McCain's or other campaigns.

Something to think about this Thanksgiving

An article here a few years ago in the NY Times (h/t Kos, like I know him, hee hee). I'll feel guilty.

What Happy People Don't Do

Interesting short article here in the NY Times.

Inauguration Info

Here's some information from the Washington Post about the inauguration.

Rahm Emanuel 2005 Roast on C-SPAN

Last Friday evening I got sucked into this often funny roast of Rahm Emanuel on C-SPAN from three years ago that included a number of the Chicago political class (or those with Chicago roots) that are in our national leadership today: Barack Obama, Rahm course, David Axelrod, Hillary Clinton, William Daley (brother and son of Chicago mayors; was in Clinton's admin). Chris Dodd was there as well. I'm not a big fan of Emanuel, but it was interesting to see all these figures together at a lighter event and before the momentous campaign.

1 hr 50 min, but a summary: Dodd at the beginning is funny. Obama about half way through has some good lines and one very good one. Daley and Emanuel later have rapid fire jokes.

See it here.

Progress in Recycling

An encouraging NY Times article on an electronics recycling company in New York.

Letter to the NY Times, on Friedman again

After reading another arrogant Thomas Friedman op-ed here, what I just wrote to the New York Times:

To the Editor,

Thomas Friedman unfortunately illustrates the continued arrogance of American foreign policy in the Middle East (Show Me the Money, Nov 9). In order to show their true support for future President Obama, Mr. Friedman says other nations should "show me the money" to help end the disaster that America has wrought upon Iraq. Rather than expecting money, how about asking nicely for it? How about saying please? It is not fickle for other nations to be turned off by the years of the current administration's bullying and unilateral foreign policy. It is when America shows some humility and respect in its foreign policy, for which there is a good chance in an Obama administration, that it will then regain the affection of other nations and the support needed to deal with ending the war in Iraq and confronting the terrorist threat around the world.

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

Not a bad acceptance speech. Have we seen enough flags in the background though?

Obama Wins

It finally came. Happy day. But a lot of work to do.

NY Times article.

Placeholder for article on Seymour Hersh

The Guardian has an article on Seymour Hersh. Supposedly, a bunch of people want to reveal all the abuses of the Bush administration on inauguration day.

My 2008 Voting

I early voted last week. Tomorrow is the big day. My votes below (I didn't vote in all of the contests that I could have voted for; some had no Dem competition or I knew nothing about the candidates):

President D Barack Obama
U.S. Senate D Rick Noriega
U.S. House, District 3 D Tom Daley
Texas Supreme Court, Chief Justice R Wallace Jefferson
Texas Supreme Court, Place 7 D Sam Houston
Texas Supreme Court, Place 8 D Linda Reyna Yanez
5th Court of Appeals, Place 3 R Mary Murphy
5th Court of Appeals, Place 6 R David Bridges
5th Court of Appeals, Place 8 R Kerry Fitzgerald
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 D Susan Strawn
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 L David Howard
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9 R Cathy Cochran
Railroad Commissioner D Mark Thompson
State Board of Education, Dist. 13 D Mavis Best Knight
State Board of Education, Dist. 14 D Edra Bogle

Texan Anti-Evolution

Just wanting to maintain a reference to an interesting post on Daily Kos today. More fighting against creationism in Texas schools ahead possibly.

The most damning doc of them all

I just finished watching the new Torturing Democracy documentary online. See it here. I have not seen all the war on terror documentaries, but of what I've seen, this one is the most damning of the Bush administration of them all. I'm alerting folks to this doc (it's not being broadcast in Dallas, no surprise; but I will write to our local PBS station, KERA, urging it to do so).

War crimes, war crimes, war crimes!!!

Also, good post by Scott Horton about how PBS has stifled the broadcast of this documentary is here.

And what got me going on all this is Glenn Greenwald's post and interview of Scott Horton here.

This is the value of the internet.

Iraqi Lives: Do they matter to Americans?

I was reminded again this morning about how myopic the media and in general politicians can be in regards to the casualties of the Iraq war. On MSNBC's Morning Joe part of the political talk touched on Iraq and its costs, and one of the hosts (the woman, can't remember her name) mentioned the loss of American life in the war. True, but what about the much larger loss of Iraqi life in the war? As often happens, it goes unspoken, because I guess media types don't think that it's important to mention.

Why do they not think that it's important? My view is that they and politicians don't think that Americans care about Iraqi lives, and maybe they're right. Right or wrong, there is still the perception that Americans don't care, and I think this more than anything else causes resentment in the world, particularly in non-caucasian areas, towards America. And why shouldn't parts of the world or even the whole world be resentful if it thinks Americans don't care about anything but their own.

Sure, America sends alot of foreign aid to all parts of the world, and I'm sure that that is appreciated. However, on a more personal level, it's got to rub the world the wrong way when all the American media and politicians just talk about the American losses in the Iraq war.

Krugman <-> Nobel?

Lookalikes?

Krugman Wins Nobel

My favorite columnist, Paul Krugman of the New York Times, won the Nobel prize for economics. It was for earlier work on the ways of international trade. The article on winning the award is here.

Way to go Paul!!

VP Debate

Nothing really notable occurred in last night's VP debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Only that Sarah Palin did not implode as some of her recent TV interviews indicated was a possibility. So she didn't damage the McCain-Palin campaign. Of course, everyone set the bar so low for her.

Palin's good at cheerleading and bravado and didn't disappoint her supporters on that front. She also likes to jab. However, she really had little if anything of substance to say. A number of times her responses were cyclical or redundant. She would just go round and round, over and over, describing how McCain and she were sure to change things in Washington. You just had to believe her on this. Haven't we heard something similar out of the White House for the past 7 1/2 years? "Trust me". Palin was even proud of the "Drill, Baby, Drill" mantra.

As expected, Biden did not attack Palin, only mildly rebutting some of Palin's jabs or exagerrations. I felt he could have jumped on some of the this, but instead kept his attacks on McCain. There're all these claims of critics being sexist in their criticisms of Palin, but then there's this self censorship to not criticize Palin because it would look like one is unfairly jumping on her. Now isn't that the most sexist attitude of all?!?!

After watching debates in 2004 and this year so far, it's remarkable that these important events are almost all non-events. Almost all are considered a draw. Why? Because they are not about putting forth winning arguments but are instead about drumming home messages and not committing mistakes. They are almost all lackluster. I don't recall any recent debate that has been significant in a campaign. The most notable thing I remember from 2000 was Gore standing in Bush's face, a confirmation to America that Gore was a little odd, not knowing how to act in a campaign. Unfortunate, because he had the better arguments.

I watch these debates only not to miss anything, but rarely would I have missed anything had I not watched.

Joebama

My favorite bumper sticker of the day. May get one tonight.

My response to today's Glenn Greenwald post

I have to say that this was a bit of an absurd post. MSNBC could not keep Olbermann as a political coverage anchor. While I agree with GG and Olbermann politically, Olbermann is too overtly partisan for an anchorship. The comparison with Bill O'Reilly is more valid than with Brit Hume (does Keith attack Hume almost every night like he does Billo?). Hume, while known to be conservative, does not wear it on his sleeve like Olbermann wears his liberalism. The last straw was Olbermann's comment about the 9/11 RNC video being inappropriate. Maybe, but it was certainly inappropriate for Olbermann to be making such a comment as an anchor. "Removing" himself as he said from the MSNBC team does not cut it.

Matthews being cut. Well, that's how it goes sometimes when you're part of a team.

Matthews and Olbermann are still to be part of the MSNBC/NBC coverage as analysts but not as anchors. I think really that that is their proper role. GG cannot say at the moment that they won't be prominent.

Greenwald's post. I submitted the above text to his response page for the post.

The Story of this Blog

Was referred to this by Jennifer. One has to laugh at their own blog, particularly this one. A t-shirt with this can be ordered here.

Ron Suskind's New Book

I'm intrigued to read Ron Suskind's new book "The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism". It supposedly has a revelation of the White House directing the CIA to create a forged back-dated letter by the then Iraqi intelligence chief stating that Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 terrorists, trained in Iraq. This would create an appearance of an operational relationship between Al Quaeda and Iraq, one of the White House's highly suspect excuses for invading Iraq. This sort of thing would be grounds for impeachment the author says. Well, if so and I agree so, why did we have to wait for a book to learn of it? The book is about much more than that episode, but the episode has been a newsmaking revelation in the media.

I thought I would not buy this book on the grounds that I'd be contributing to the author's profits when he should have revealed this information to the authorities or the press. We've had so many books about the scandalous George Bush White House, but we've got to allow someone to make a profit first before anything is possibly done.

However, the book is getting very good reviews, and I noticed in B&N Sunday "Pulitzer Prize Winner" on the cover. I thought that meant the book, but it may have meant Suskind who is a prize winner for journalism over 10 years ago. I hate marketing that I know intentionally plants an idea in one's mind that is known to be untrue.

I'll probably pick up a copy at some point. I can't resist.

Faulting the Palin News Coverage

My letter today to the NY Times faulting the "news analysis" of McCain's VP pick. The "news analysis" is here.

To the Editor,

In what is under the heading "News Analysis" (Choice of Palin Is a Bold Move by McCain, With Risks , 8/29), the Times frightfully headlines and writes that Senator McCain risks undercutting his central case against Senator Barack Obama with Gov Palin as his choice for VP running mate. Risks? With the central case being about experience, it blows the central argument out of the water! How can anyone not say that this choice undercuts the experience argument? Gov Palin has been in office less than two years in one of the least populous states, and before that, the mayor of a smallish town population around 9,000. She is hardly known nationally and has no foreign policy experience. That there is any question about the experience argument being undercut reflects either poor or fearful (of conservative reaction) news analysis.

McCain-Palin? A Big Goof!

John McCain announced Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate yesterday. It's a stunning and stunningly bad choice. Ms. Palin may be accomplished and popular in Alaska, but she's completely unknown on the national stage and has very little government experience (a year and a half as governor of the 47th most populace state and before that some time as mayor of a town, population 9,000+). It's incredible that McCain would elevate someone like to this to such a high position considering the presidential stakes at hand. This is a big gift to the Democrats. Now McCain's argument that Barack Obama doesn't have the experience to be president is totally undercut. That is a huge blow to the strategy of the Republicans for getting McCain into the White House. I'm sure they had a bunch of commercials planned that would harp on Obama's lack of experience, but those commercials will have to be swept aside, and a new advertising strategy will have to be developed.

The VP choice also makes Obama's theme of judgement resonate even more. McCain has years of experience, but he still makes a pick like this. The Obama camp won't directly criticize the Palin choice, but it will fire back strongly if there are anymore experience charges aimed at Obama, and it will play up the judgement theme hinting strongly that Palin was a bad choice.

I thought McCain-Romney would have been the toughest duo to face. Romney's a good campaigner and complements McCain on economics and by appearing to be still somewhat youthful (at least in my opinion). Pawlenty would have been better than Palin, but maybe not that exciting, less well known than Romney, and maybe less formidable.

Lastly, there was some pretty moronic reaction to the Palin pick last night on Hardball. Chris Matthews was trying pretty hard to stay balanced on the fence, but it was obvious that he was holding back and being nice about Palin. And then his three women guests were all somewhat complimentary of the pick, even the Barnard (sp?) woman who is an Obama supporter. I think they were all afraid, particularly Barnard, of coming across as offensive and so all gave positive or politically correct answers. The 800 pound gorilla in the room was experience, and it was hardly touched on. Why do I watch these shows??

I will say that it was highly more realistic on Countdown. Olberman obviously inferred that it was a bad pick. Howard Fineman said Sarah Palin makes Barack Obama look like John Adams. Rachel Maddow said it's a laugh out loud pick.

Change?

I was a bit underwhelmed by Barack Obama's acceptance speech last night. It was his usual standard fare with a little specificity mixed in but not much. Perhaps I've seen too many of Obama's speeches and have grown a little tiresome of his rhetoric. I actually fell asleep during the latter third of it (doesn't help to be lying on the couch with a comfy head pillow), but I don't think I missed much. I did read the text later on in the evening.

Since I wasn't impressed by the speech I haven't included a video link here. I thought Bill Clinton and John Kerry made better and the best speeches that I saw from the convention.

So my question is: What is Obama's agenda if and when he gets into office? What are his priorities? I know that he plans to get with the generals and determine a reasonable withdrawal time line from Iraq, but what else? It would have been nice to get more specificity on the priorities.

The speech called for change but not much other than the usual change of a change in parties in the Oval Office. What about change from what Obama talks about as the usual politics in Washington. How is he going to change that? I didn't hear much on that theme in his speech tonight. It was basically a safe Democratic speech.

Lastly, I thought the venue was great, and it was neat to see the wide stadium shots with it looking like every seat being filled. I didn't like though the backdrop to the stage. The columns/colonnade wasn't terrible, but it was a bit lofty and conservative. Also, when watching Obama speak, I sort of lost the sense that he was in a big stadium. He could have been in a smaller venue, because during the speech you couldn't see anything behind Obama (besides the columns). I think a more open podium, perhaps with people visible behind it, that conveyed the sense of the event being in a large stadium would have been more effective from a television viewing standpoint. Also, the stage was a terrible mess after the speech with all the streamers massively draped over one side.

Bill Clinton Speaks at the DNC

Bill doing what he does best...

John Kerry Speaks at the DNC

A stirring speech by John Kerry...

Who is this guy?

I couldn't help thinking the following as Barack Obama made his "surprise" appearance at the end of Joe Biden's speech: Who is this young, thin guy coming out to emcee the festivities? Now being young and thin shouldn't be held against someone, but I mean, really, what is this guy's track record that qualifies him to put us at his command? His lead? He was only just giving a keynote address at the last convention four years ago. He was completely unknown then, and he's still really new to a lot of the country now. What has he done at the national level or at the state level that is known nationally? Obama's got to win the election, but after reading about and seeing him, I also feel that Obama can sometimes be getting a little too big for his britches.

Take the Mike Away From the Kids

At the end of Michelle Obama's speech last night at the Democratic National Convention, we had a too cutesy moment with the Obama girls. Dad was on the video screen being piped in from Kansas City, and the youngest daughter, Sasha, was given a free hand with the microphone to say things to her dad. It became a bit ridiculous though I'm sure the intention was to present a loving family moment. And to think that Barack Obama thought that they had put their kids into the spotlight too much after that TV interview earlier this summer. They've obviously gone back on that.

A Note to the Obama Campaign

A note below that I sent to the Obama campaign today. I donated another $250 yesterday ($500 total to date). Looking to get the Obama-Biden t-shirt. Also requested a bumper sticker and sign.

A comment about presidential candidates that frequently comes up in the media and seems to be mainly aimed at Democratic candidates is "whether he is one of us". Well, what is one of us?? The thing about America is that it has diversity whether it be ethnic, cultural, educational, or economic. Despite this diversity, we are all "one of us". "Us" is not just one group of people. "Us" includes the Ivy-League educated, the high-school educated, the oil field workers, the Wall St. bankers, the farmers, the teachers, the retired, the college students, those in the big city, those in the country, the black, the brown, and the white. Whether a candidate has a different background than others should not be so important. What matters is that his words and actions make sense for America.

I know that Senator Obama has sounded this type of theme before, but I think the meaning of "us" in all its forms and in terms of where presidential candidates can come from should be emphasized during the convention and the campaign.

Go Obama-Biden!

Hooliganism Beyond Football

Brits are at it again and more broadly than just at football (soccer) matches, making irritants of themselves at European vacation spots. The Times article here.

Teaching Evolution

The New York Times has a good article on one Florida teacher's struggles to teach evolution. The biology teacher, David Campbell, is shown to be quite knowledgeable about the subject (which I guess a biology teacher should be) and quick witted with answers. He's tactical as well about the subject with his students who are from a conservative community significantly influenced by religion. Campbell has also been an activist working with other teachers to get the state of Florida to have stronger standards for teaching evolution.

More power to David Campbell! He's definitely making a positive contribution to life.

Summer Olympics in Beijing

I've watched more of the olympics than I had anticipated. Today, I actually enjoyed watching the kayak races. It was a nice way to relax. I watched most of the marathon this evening (live the next morning in Beijing). Imagine, watching a marathon! But it was interesting and a good sideshow while I was cooking dinner.

I also watched some track whenever it was on this evening. Amazingly, the Americans held onto the baton and won their mens and womens 4x400 relays (they both dropped them in the 4x100 relays).

I haven't actually watched too much of the Olympics during the week. I think I will, but it doesn't happen. I guess when I hear the results earlier in the day then I sometimes figure it's okay if I miss the tape delay. However, I would have like to have seen Jamaican Ussain Bolt's 100m and 200m world record victories.

Beijing has put on quite a show. Every building seemingly lit up at night. Wonderful opening ceremony (which I only caught the latter half of). Should be a somewhat melancholy closing ceremony tomorrow night. They usually are I imagine. London in 2012 will have a tough act to follow. Would be nice to be there for that.

Finally a Post, and Finally Obama's Running Mate

I didn't think that I would fall off the blogging wagon that dramatically, but I guess I did since it's been over a month since my last post. Well, no one reads this blog. It's almost a personal journal. Does it matter? Yes. It's far too early to give it up especially after a good beginning.

Anyway, Obama finally announced his running mate for the election. It's Joe Biden. Several months ago I never would have thought of Biden being in the Presidential mix at this date, even if it is as VP. But I like the pick over the other frontrunners (Evan Bayh, boring, and Tim Kaine, unknown). Biden complements Obama well. He's got the experience that the lack of seems to be tripping up Obama, at least the perception about Obama. Biden's also can be hot compared to the supposed "coolness" of Obama. But hopefully that hot doesn't get Biden and the campaign into trouble. Biden's got a big mouth, which can be tiresome and is able to receive in it the occasional foot. There's also the plagiarism incident from years ago (I think 1988?), but I don't think that will be a problem. Enough time has passed for people to forgive Biden over it.

I've never been a fan of Biden, but I hope that he helps Obama win the presidency.

Mike Luckovich Cartoon on our Congress

If today’s Congress presided during Watergate

Obama's Plan for Iraq

Barack Obama shares his plan for Iraq in an op-ed today in the NY Times. I'm glad that he's still sticking with his 16 month draw down. What's new to me is the mention of a residual force remaining in Iraq afterwards. Perhaps he's mentioned the residual force before, but I hadn't heard of it. This residual force's missions would include "going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces."

I have some misgivings and questions about this residual force. First, the U.S. would not be completely out of Iraq, something that I believe should occur and that I think many in the Middle East, particularly the Iraqi citizenry would prefer. I think any U.S. military footprint in Iraq would be unwelcome to Iraqis. The U.S. has wreaked and triggered enough damage on Iraq for it to be persona non grata. Views could change on this if Iraqis do see a good faith effort by Obama, his administration, and the U.S. military in getting Iraq back on its feet, being independent, and moving towards the sustainability of a peaceful society. The residual force though does serve to provide strategic and political flexibility. It's not necessarily an unwise option, but I think it's purpose is to play more to a U.S. audience than an Iraqi audience.

The obvious question about the residual force is: What size would it be? 5,000 troops? 10,000 troops? Obama's got to be questioned on that if the media has any sense of what its job is. Most likely though, Obama won't initially provide a number. It would be hard to at this early stage, but there's a range that he has to have in mind, and it's one that he should share with the voters and Iraqis. Also, how long would the residual force be expected to stay in Iraq? This is an even harder question to answer, but it is a fair one to ask.

It would also be nice to know what the Iraqis would think of Obama's plan. Has Obama's campaign gotten any insight into what the Iraqis would be agreeable to. We hear now that the Iraqis are in favor of a withdrawal timetable. What do they think of a residual force?

Though Obama explains this plan, and it's good to have one, the big question is how is the Iraqi political process going to play out. There are still many unresolved issues, and it's still very uncertain as to whether the Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds can coexist under one government.

It's good to get the plan (at least the general plan) down in print after last week's kerfuffle about whether Obama was changing is position on Iraq. It's sure to trigger much discussion in the blogosphere and in MSM.

Michael DeBakey Dies at 99

Dr. Michael DeBakey, a medical legend, died last night in Houston. Here's an obit.

Flowcharts of Old and New FISA

Here's an interesting page showing flowcharts detailing the various combinations of communications that can or cannot be surveiled without a warrant. I'm assuming that it's correct unless I see otherwise. The graphical depiction helps in trying to grasp the important controversial points amongst the complexity of FISA.

Jonathan Turley Yesterday Before the FISA Vote

A Sad Day

The Senate passed the horrid "compromise" FISA bill today. NY Times article here. Roll call vote here. My enthusiasm for Barack Obama has taken a big nosedive.

Upcoming StrangeBedFellows Money Bomb

Christopher Hitchens Tries Out Waterboarding

Here is a rather bizarre video of Christopher Hitchens as he tries out waterboarding.

Keeping the Pressure on Obama Regarding FISA

Glenn Greenwald has a fantastic post today regarding the swiss cheese Obama campaign's explanations for Obama's support of the "compromise" FISA bill (there's holes in them). He, as well the referenced NY Times article, also refers to a network of Obama supporters who are trying to pressure Obama to reverse his support for the bill. Here's the group link which may require creating an account to view. A good blog about the group here. Also referenced a tool (described here) for making it easier to contact your Congressional representatives.

Russ on FISA - Whats Next

A Senator we can be proud of.

Dreams From My Father

I just finished reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father. It's a very memorable book. It's Obama's first book, a memoir that doesn't cover all aspects of his life until the time he wrote it. It skips many years in some parts of the narrative. It focuses on his upbringing in Hawaii (mainly by his grandparents), his time as a community activist in Chicago, and his first visit to Kenya. The upbringing part (Part 1, Origins) is poignant as Obama is rather an outsider, does not know his father other than in letters and a visit when Obama is 10, and starts to discover what it means to be black, but then of course, he is not that black because is mother is white. While reading this part though I didn't find Obama having many problems adjusting to whatever situation he was put in.

The most memorable parts to me were about his time in Chicago and the Kenya visit. I was impressed by Obama's dedication, planning, and intelligence in helping the less well off in Chicago's south side. What was also brought home was the difficulty and hard work (quite a slog) involved in getting people together to improve their community, particularly for people who are struggling just to get by. The successes that he and his group of activists had were inspiring, but there were still many more community issues to tackle.

I think the memorable things about Obama's first trip to Kenya were 1) he finally met and learned much about his father's side of the family-rather a complicated one, 2) with a name like Obama he found a place where he was naturally accepted, and 3) it was enlightening to read about the simpler lives of Kenyans but also their economic struggles and the legacy of British colonialism. I think the trip must have made Obama feel more complete. His father's family had a history.

Lastly, one impression I picked up about Obama was that he had and I'm sure still does have a strong work ethic. I think that was enforced on him by his mother and even from his father from a distance. I was particularly impressed by his time in New York where he seemed to be the most on his own and when he became rather disciplined, almost ascetic. He declined to go in a conventional route where he could accrue the monetary gains and instead followed his ideals. I was impressed that he wrote all over the country trying to find an organization through which he could get involved. And eventually he did find one in Chicago.

While lately I haven't been happy with some of Obama's recent political positions, I am glad to have an idea of who he is and where he comes from.

The "L" Word

Should be my last post for today. Got to get some work done!!

Anyway, I've been noticing the "L" word, liberal, being mentioned more often these days on television and radio. As an example, Chris Matthews had Congressman Robert Wexler from Florida on Hardball last night. Wexler has a new book called Firebreathing Liberal in the title. And "liberal" just seemed to be thrown about a lot during the discussion. It's been weird lately but also heartening to hear the word "liberal" dropped more often these days. Paul Krugman does have his Conscience of a Liberal book, but his columns all still use the word "progressive". I have the book but have yet to read it.

It has always bothered me how leading left-leaning people had forsaken "liberal" and adopted "progressive" as the term for their ideology. Policywise, I could never tell the difference, but I think "progressive" has been viewed as less radical in the political climate of the last twenty plus years. But to me, it just represented the meekness of left-leaning politicians whose liberal policies were for the most part the right policies. Granted, the application of liberal policies may have had their mistakes, but it wasn't worth throwing out the whole label, let alone the ideology, in order to be viewed more politically palatable.

It will be interesting to see whether we hear "liberal" mentioned more often in the future.

More FISA Stuff

Reading Glenn Greenwald I get all kinds of stuff to read and reference about FISA, stuff worth passing on (to just me for now):

1) Chris Dodd's speech here, text and video, last night against the FISA bill.

2) A speech by Barack Obama inveighing against Bush anti-terrorism tactics including wiretaps. Greenwald has an excerpt in point 6 here.

The Corruption Relating to FISA

Here's a great study (h/t Glenn Greenwald) showing how much money has been given over the last three years by telecoms to House Democrats who switched their vote from opposing a FISA bill with telecom immunity this past spring to now supporting the current FISA bill which DOES contain telecom immunity. It's very disappointing and hard not to view the contributions as a corrupting influence.

Military Lawyer Defends Client and Constitution

A military lawyer, Major David Frakt, gave an extraordinary closing argument in defense of his client currently being held at Guantanomo.

Dan Froomkin has excerpts starting at the bottom of this page here.

ACLU Itemizes the Flaws in the FISA Bill

The ACLU provides a rundown here of the reasons why the recently House passed FISA bill should be strongly opposed.

We're all still waiting to see if Senate Democrats, Chris Dodd particularly, will filibuster this bill and whether Barack Obama will support a filibuster of such a bill that contains telecom immunity as it was said he would do back in 2007. Very disappointingly, Obama currently supports the "compromise".

Barack Obama's Speech on Father's Day

Good speech by Obama. Another one. Referred to me by my friend Pete.

Strange Bedfellows

The campaign to stop the gutting of FISA and the providing of telecom immunity is up and running. The campaign's makeup is an uncommon mix of lefty's (liberal bloggers) and righty's (Ron Paul supporters) but is one with the common goal of preserving our constitutional rights. Its website is appropriately called TheStrangeBedFellows.com.

Bad Democrats

Glenn Greenwald is getting really busy in his involvement in the campaign described here to target House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and some Blue Dog Democrats because of the upcoming FISA bill that provides immunity to telecoms who accommodated the Bush administration in its illegal wiretapping. One can give to the campaign here. I just did!

Guantanamo: Beyond the Law

Mainly bookmarking this for future reading: a comprehensive history at McClatchy of the detention system instituted during the War on Terror.

Nuke Gingrich, then Tim Russert

Glenn Greenwald has a great post today regarding the fear mongering of Newt Gingrich. It goes back quite awhile, and he's still adored by the mainstream press. Sad that the news organizations aren't willing to find more credible commentators, but then they go for the ratings, don't they?

Interesting to read the clip from Chris Matthews about Tim Russert earlier swallowing the Iraq nuclear threat from the Bush administration. A very mild but also somewhat brave comment from Matthews. He can surprise you sometimes.

There's been a lot of tributes lately to Russert, to his journalism, but in my mind, Tim Russert was more interested in maintaining access to key politicians and thus propping up his and MTP's stature than in pursuing the truth. I couldn't stand him during the run up to the Iraq War and afterwards. But of course, he went far too soon.

Turks beat Czechs in Euro 2008

Doing Ali's posting job here. In an exciting finish Turkey defeats Czech Republic 3-2 in Euro 2008. I'd like to catch the ending. Hopefully, ESPN2 has a replay this evening.

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming

...to Turkey that is. An interesting article in the Times today about the Russians' ability to go abroad for vacations now. And a lot are heading to Turkey. Ali may pick some Russian up when he's there.

Press and Politicians in Each Other's Clutches

Glenn Greenwald has a good post about what I call the incestuous relationship between the mainstream press and the politicians they cover. He refers to a supposedly good Ken Silverstein article on David Broder's speaking fees. I need to read this.

Eating Less Meat

Some interesting help in this NYTimes article on transitioning to vegetarianism or just eating less meat. Maybe for whenever I decide I want to cook.

All His Eggs in One Basket

Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment here. I wonder how serious even Kucinich is. Lumping all kinds of stuff into his resolution dooms it even more than it might have already been. Here's some examples:

Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries.

Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare.

Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency.

And there's other items relating to the lead up to the Iraq War that could have been combined. While I agree that the above and other articles described things that the President shouldn't have done, many people, including myself, are not going to consider these items reason for impeachment.

Unfortunately, this less serious stuff is being lumped in with the really serious stuff (misleading the country into war, torture, wiretapping, signing statements) that would have constituted an articles of impeachment that could be seriously debated. This will get shot done not so much because of the serious articles but because of all the other articles that representatives can understandably disagree with.

I would have split up the articles or just put the main articles in the resolution.

More Complicit Enabling

Here's video of Jon Stewart of the Daily Show doing his usually funny take, this time on the media's non-coverage of the Senate Intelligence Committee's Phase 2 report. You know, the one that just happened to say that Bush et. al. exaggerated the intelligence in the lead up to the Iraq War.

Brian Williams of NBC is the only one shown who brings up the report. But after a few words, ho hum, it's back to the election.

Kucinich Presents 35 Articles Of Impeachment Against Bush

The beginning of Kucinich introducing his 35 articles of impeachment on the House floor. He started at 7:13 EDT, and I could swear that he was still going at around 11 EDT. About 4 hours. Guess so with so much crap to cover. Haven't seen the text anywhere yet.

A Lone Voice in Congress

Last night, Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Congressman from Cleveland, Ohio, introduced 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. It's what should be done but will never result in impeachment, a testament to how politically precarious the Democratic leadership feels it to be should they impeach. They want to ensure Obama gets elected and more House and Senate seats are gained. Unfortunately, Congressional Republicans and enough American people are not interested in the constitution being upheld.

At the moment, one has to go internationally to get any press coverage of the articles' introduction. Google found me one blog.

TPM Presidential Poll Tracker

Good poll tracker page containing presidential tracking poll data between Obama and McCain from Gallup, Rasmussen, CNN, others. If Blogger was working, I'd get this link in the News/Current Events list. The latest data has Obama's lead ranging from 1 - 3%.

What We Always Knew

The long, long, long awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report about how the Bush Administration used the Iraq pre-war intelligence is finally out. It confirms what we already knew: that the administration exaggerated the intelligence in order to take this country into war.

A rather timid NYTimes article on the report and its history. A more damning, and rightly so, article from Huffington Post.

A separate critical report from the committee about the doings of the Pentagon's renegade intelligence operation set up by Rumsfeld and I think run by Douglas Feith.

So what's to be done about all this? Impeachment? Prosecutions? Probably not this year, but I've been wondering if once a Democrat got into the Oval Office, namely Obama, would some type of prosecutions begin, particularly of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Feith, etc. How can these people be allowed to get away with this? If nothing is done stateside, how about the International Criminal Court starting war crimes proceedings?

There's also the torture aspect, mainly in the overall "war on terror". Any accountability going to occur for the authorized torture at Gitmo, in Afghanistan, the extraordinary renditions, surely in Iraq beyond the "bad apples" at Abu Graib?

Our Feckless Senate

Here's an amusing but also disappointing article about the Senate debate (or lack thereof) over global warming. Having the whole 492-page bill read and OK Sen James Inhofe's inanity exemplify the Republicans' true colors (despite VA Sen Warner being a bill sponsor).

Barack Obama Democratic Nomination Victory Speech

Noticed my favorite band U2 playing in the background at the very beginning, Beautful Day. Apropos.

29 minutes long.

Finally!

Obama finally clinches the Democratic Presidential nomination (at least in terms of delegates). What an epic battle! In a way, I'm glad the process went all the way until the end of primary season. For practical purposes, it probably toughened Obama, and it also kept the focus on and excitement about the Democrats. The Presidential race is far from over, but it's already been an incredibly historic campaign season:

• The first black nominee from either major party.
  
• The first woman in a campaign who was a serious contender for the presidency (and who was original Democratic favorite).
• An epic Democratic battle in which two candidates went practically neck and neck throughout the primary season, and we saw it go all the way to the very last primary. Obama appeared though to have it mathematically locked up by April.
  
• Voting in all 50+ Democratic primaries mattered.

Let's just see if Hillary Clinton can bow out gracefully and not further any contentiousness in the lead up to the convention.

Ugh, Aggies Get Hammered

I forgot to catch game 2 last night, but maybe I'm glad I didn't. Arizona State beats Texas A&M 11-0 to clinch the national championship.

Perhaps there were too many Hillary Clinton supporters on the Aggie squad and they were already down from Clinton finally coming up short at the end of primary season.

Hopefully, the Aggies will be back next year. Gig'em!

The Scott McClellan Tour Continues

Dan Froomkin has an excellent blog today that's a catch-all of Scott McClellan's recent appearances on tv and fallout from his book. On the latter, questions are arising again about Dick Cheney's role in the Valerie Plame leaking scandal. His capture of the O'Reilly Factor appearance is great. Here's the links to video of that interview: one, two, three.

Using Froomkin's references, the Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart: starts getting very good at the end of part one, and Stewart furthering the excellent points about the Bush White House deception in part two.

Letter to the New York Times

I'm on an anti-Thomas Friedman binge. Here's a letter I just wrote to the NYTimes. Wonder if it will get published. It's been awhile since one has (haven't written to them much lately anyway):

In his "It's All About Leverage" column, Thomas Friedman offers poor advice to Barack Obama in regards to dealing with other nations. Mr. Friedman calls for the U.S. acquiring leverage before it talks with anyone. Granted, it is nice to have leverage, but what making leverage a requirement for talks really means is being able to have the U.S. strong-arm other nations into doing what it wants. This reflects a diplomatic poverty. It is not a diplomacy where there is mutual respect and a desire to achieve an outcome to which both sides are genuinely agreeable and from which both sides benefit. Even without leverage, two sides should still be able to talk and be resourceful enough to achieve a diplomatic objective. Mr. Friedman's advice is not far off from the disastrous George W. Bush style of diplomacy: be able to force an outcome or don't deal at all. This style of diplomacy has engendered much anti-American resentment, and I hope this similar advice is ignored by Barack Obama should he become president.

Thomas Friedman Sums Up the Iraq War:

Here's the philosophy in all its nakednes of Thomas Friedman, the Suck on This video, as he's talking about the Iraq War rationale and who in general is such a homer for the U.S. and Israel and so anti-Arab.

Friedman's Diplomacy: Strong Arming

Thomas Friedman has a pretty distasteful Sunday column about how the U.S. should run its diplomacy. The U.S. should have some leverage before it talks with other nations, particularly Arab nations. Granted, it's nice to have leverage or an advantage when negotiating, but this does not reflect an attitude of each side gaining from the negotiations and thereafter some mutual respect being achieved. It's more about the U.S. being able to strong arm with whomever it deals. This only brings distrust and resentment from other nations. In essence, this has been what the Bush administration's foreign policy has been: being able to force an outcome or not do anything at all.

Aggies Lose Game 1

The Aggies get stymied by ASU's pitcher, 11 strikeouts. At least it's two out of three. Game 2 tonight.

Aggies in Championship

The Aggies have progressed to the final round in the softball college world series. They play Arizona State tonight to start a best of 3 series. It's on ESPN2 at 6pm. Whoop!

Complicit Enablers

Referring from Glenn Greenwald, McLatchy journalists have a very good column that refutes the claims by the complicit enablers, as Scott McClellan calls the media, that they did what they could in challenging the Bush administration in the run up to the Iraq war.

Aggie Softball Team Wins

In their opening College World Series game, the Aggies got a big win yesterday, 1-0, over Virginia Tech and their player of the year pitcher. Obviously, it was very close, winning with a Hokie throwing error.


Good luck to the Ags in the rest of the series!

English football

England defeats U.S.A. in a friendly yesterday, 2-0.

House for Sale

Asking $160K

For more info: http://www.forsalebyowner.com/21666176

The Fall of Conservatism

George Packer has a better than expected article in last week's New Yorker. I say better than expected because I thought the title was a bit much (things are still pretty conservative). But Packer provides a good chronology from the 60's and 70's up until today and some insightful writing. Conservatives are pretty worried about November, rightfully I guess, but until a Democrat (preferrably Obama) is back in the Oval Office, my emotions aren't yet that up even with those good prospects.

On a personal note, when I started noticing Packer's name in the media a couple of years ago, namely in the New Yorker and for his Assassin's Gate book about Iraq, it took me awhile to realize that I had known this guy before. Turns out we had played a few summers together on a softball team in the Boston area almost 20 years ago. I didn't know him too well, but I remember him being a writer. It's interesting to learn of the impressive accomplishments that he's made since then.

Looking at the Media

Glenn Greenwald has a good post today regarding the media examining itself during the run up to the Iraq war. For the first time in awhile, I actually admired Katie Couric in this video that Greenwald references.

This is coming about because of the new Scott McClellan book which has some scathing remarks about the Bush administration. Could he and all these other former Bushies and generals have ever stood up when it counted???

Still, nothing on the tube about the NYTimes article on the Pentagon's military analyst program and the willingly duped media. I don't think even Olberman has said anything.

The media's still got to do alot of answering, or just get better.

Weezer: Pork and Beans

For some completely different video

Barack Obama at Wesleyan Commencement Ceremony

Ok, the video

Barack Obama's Weslayan commencement

Transcript of his very good commencement speech. I'm hoping to get a video link to it.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBPzl

New here

I have no idea what I might blog about but was curious about what blogger was. Since the setup was easy (signed in with my google account), here it is. I'd like to think that I would have insightful or profound thoughts to actually make something of this. If anything, it'll be about politics, possibly references to other political blogs. If nothing, this'll be my one post. But with the seemingly endless amount of digital storage these days, maybe no one managing blogspot will notice, either way. Come to think of it though, they probably have an inactivity checker and will delete inactive blogs after a certain period.

Whoo ho, I'm having a feeling of a bit of a blogger!!