10/16/2011 archive
Oct 16 2011
Rant of the Week: Keith Olbermann
Oct 16 2011
On This Day In History October 16
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 76 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1916, Margaret Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic at 46 Amboy St. in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, the first of its kind in the United States.
It was raided 9 days later by the police. She served 30 days in prison. An initial appeal was rejected but in 1918 an opinion written by Judge Frederick E. Crane of the New York Court of Appeals allowed doctors to prescribe contraception.
This was the beginning of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921, which changed its name to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. in 1942. Since then, it has grown to 850 clinic locations in the United States, with a total budget of approximately US$1 billion, and provides an array of services to over three million people.Dealing with sexuality, the organization is often a center of controversy in the United States. The organization’s status as the country’s leading provider of surgical abortions has put it in the forefront of national debate over the issue. Planned Parenthood has also been a party in numerous Supreme Court cases.
In scanning through the articles on Margaret Sanger, I found this bit of trivia quite amusing
In 1926, Sanger gave a lecture on birth control to the women’s auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. She described it as “one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing,” and added that she had to use only “the most elementary terms, as though I were trying to make children understand.” Sanger’s talk was well-received by the group and as a result “a dozen invitations to similar groups were proffered.”
Oct 16 2011
Occupy Wall St. Livestream: Day 30
Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com
The resistance continues at Liberty Square, with free pizza đ
“I don’t know how to fix this but I know it’s wrong.” ~ Unknown Author
October 15 Times Sq.
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York City today culminated with a Times Square rally that drew thousands opposed to economic inequality, echoed by protests from London to Tokyo.
Participants in the month-old movement marched past a JPMorgan Chase & Co. branch early in the day to urge clients to close accounts. Twenty-four were arrested later at a Citigroup Inc. office, the police said, and about 6,000 gathered in Times Square, the organizers estimated.
Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto and other cities also saw protests, which turned violent in Rome, in what organizers called a “global day of action against Wall Street greed.” Backers say they represent “the 99 percent,” a nod to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz’s study showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,'” Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman, said in an e-mail. A news release from the organization said there were demonstrations in 1,500 cities worldwide, including 100 in the U.S.
8:50 p.m. 700 reported in Washington Square Park. Music and food there.
8:30 p.m. Scanner says riot cops in full gear, nets out, headed to the crowd, 47th and 6th.
8:11 p.m. White shirt just ordered #NYPD line AWAY from barricades. Crowd ROARS
8:08 p.m. Tension escalating, police ordering protesters to step away from barricades.
8:02 p.m. Mario: 4 paddy wagons and arrests at 46 and 6th ave.
8:00 p.m. Police are arresting occupiers at 46th and 6th.
7:30 p.m. Unconfirmed estimates ranging as high as 50,000 people in Times Square.
6:45 p.m. Police have trapped people in times square with barricades.
6:35 p.m. A horse just went down. Crowd is going wild. NYPD says anyone near barricade is going to jail. This is is inexcusable. (Source)
6:22 p.m. Police on horseback arrive. Police pulling people out of crowd and attacking them. Protesters are rushing barricades.
6:10 p.m. Police in riot gear retreat.
6:05 p.m. Police are in riot gear.
6:00 p.m. Backup has arrived. Estimated 15,000 in Times Square
5:49 p.m. Orange nets along Broadway.
5:45 p.m. Five thousand more on their way from Liberty Square and other locations.
5:30 p.m. Thousands arrive in Time Square. Now livestreaming: http://www.livestream.com/occu…
Greg Mitchel at The Nation has a great running account of the event in Times Square and from around the world with links: The OccupyUSA Blog: Special Weekend Edition!
Oct 16 2011
Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition
“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.
The Sunday Talking Heads:
This Week with Christiane Amanpour: Ms. Amanpour talks with top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod in an exclusive.
The roundtable with George Will, ABC News senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl, economist and former Clinton economic adviser Laura Tyson and Bloomberg Television’s Margaret Brennan dissect the economic proposals from both sides of the aisle. And Republican strategist Mary Matalin and Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus join the roundtable to discuss all the week’s politics.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), and The New York Times’ David Sanger join Christiane to discuss the latest on the failed terrorist plot.
ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper tours the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and discusses King’s legacy with civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:Coming up on Face the Nation: Topic: “Fast and Furious” gunwalker case Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman, Oversight & Government Reform Committee; Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member, Oversight & Government Reform Committee and Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Investigative Correspondent.
The Chris Matthews Show: This week’s guests, Nia-Malika Henderson, The Washington Post National Political Reporter, Katty Kay, BBC Washington Correspondent, Joe Klein, TIME Columnist and Major Garrett, National Journal Congressional Correspondent, will discuss:
Is Mitt Romney perfectly positioned to take the Independent vote and beat Barack Obama?
Will the Wall Street protests become a big part of politics in ’12?
Meet the Press with David Gregory: Meet Herman Cain, contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
Two big-name supporters of two leading GOP presidential candidates square off: Gov. Tim Pawlenty for Romney and Gov. Bobby Jindal for Perry.
NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd and the BBC’s Katty Kay will discus the 2012 race and strategists Kevin Madden and Ron Klain on prepping candidates for debates and the importance of their performances.
State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Candy Crowley sits down with former House Speaker and Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich to discuss the 2012 GOP race, as we are just days away from CNN’s Western Republican Presidential Debate in Las Vegas.
Then, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee shares his thoughts on the U.S.’s response to Iran, the President’s jobs bill and the overall state of the economy.
Plus, DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) shares her party’s perspectives on the 2012 campaign.
Also, as part of our special coverage of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) talks about his role in the civil rights movement as we honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. We will have live coverage of the dedication centered on President Obama’s address.
Nouriel Roubini: After the Storm: The Instability of Inequality
New York – This year has witnessed a global wave of social and political turmoil and instability, with masses of people pouring into the real and virtual streets: the Arab Spring; riots in London; Israel’s middle-class protests against high housing prices and an inflationary squeeze on living standards; protesting Chilean students; the destruction in Germany of the expensive cars of “fat cats”; India’s movement against corruption; mounting unhappiness with corruption and inequality in China; and now the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York and across the United States.
While these protests have no unified theme, they express in different ways the serious concerns of the world’s working and middle classes about their prospects in the face of the growing concentration of power among economic, financial, and political elites. The causes of their concern are clear enough: high unemployment and underemployment in advanced and emerging economies; inadequate skills and education for young people and workers to compete in a globalized world; resentment against corruption, including legalized forms like lobbying; and a sharp rise in income and wealth inequality in advanced and fast-growing emerging-market economies.
David Sirota: Government by Death Panel
Remember the good ol’ days when Republicans were running around the country screaming that Democrats’ proposal to fund voluntary end-of-life counseling would somehow create a government-sanctioned death panel? Ooh boy, the heartland was ablaze back then. Wracked by anger at a Democrat occupying the White House, an enraged Middle America was genuinely scared about the prospect of a secret group of bureaucrats putting together a “kill list” of citizens deemed to be too much of a nuisance.
The fears, of course, seem rather quaint these days. The notion of a White House bothering to request the statutory authority to execute troublesome Americans is just so … 2009. After all, last week we learned from Reuters that fellow countrymen labeled “militants” by the Obama administration are now unilaterally placed on a “kill list” by “a secretive panel of senior government officials.”
Eugene Robinson: Flavor of the Week
Just be patient and you, too, can lead the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. Witness the ascent of Herman Cain.
Don’t laugh. “There’s a difference between the flavor of the week and Haagen-Dazs Black Walnut, because it tastes good all the time,” Cain told reporters this week. “Call me Haagen-Dazs Black Walnut.”
All right, go ahead and laugh. Cain will surely respond with what has become his all-purpose retort: “As my grandfather would say, I does not care.”
At the moment, though, we don’t have the option of not caring. According to a stunning new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Cain now tops the GOP field with support from 27 percent of Republican primary voters, compared to 23 percent for Mitt Romney and just 16 percent for Rick Perry.
Dave Johnson: Help Verizon’s Workers Try to Save the Middle Class
Here is a practical application of the ideas and energy of #Occupy Wall Street. Verizon’s workers are in a struggle against a giant corporation. They need your help leafleting at Verizon stores, reaching people to explain what is going on.
Verizon is a huge, very profitable company. But Verizon is trying to make its workers take pay and benefit cuts, so that a few at the top can make even more money. If this sounds familiar it is because this is what is happening to our economy across the board. Big companies are using the fear caused by the unemployment crisis to take away more and more benefits, cut back wages, make people work longer hours, and basically shred the middle class. 99% of us are finding it harder and harder to get by while a few at the top are getting more and more.
Michelle Chen: While Washington Dithers, Labor Brings Jobs and Equity Home
The 2012 campaign trail is already littered with silver bullets and peppy slogans about boosting America out of its unemployment slump. But for the most part, the plans that politicians have trotted out–from Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 mantra to the GOP’s latest corporate welfare formulas, to Obama’s limp blend of free-trade policies and woefully inadequate stimulus–stick faithfully to the path of neoliberalism, paving the way for more outsized corporate profits.
So does anyone have a plan to steer industry toward the needs of communities? Researchers at Cornell University have located a few novel ideas, well outside the Beltway, that are blazing small trails in economic disaster zones. Their study focuses on project labor agreements that are designed to meet workers’ needs for decent wages and working conditions, while upholding principles of equity in local hiring practices.
Oct 16 2011
2011 NLCS- Cardinals at Brewers Game 6
I won’t pretend to be happy about the Rangers win and whether or not the Cardinals do the same tonight I’ll have a day off on Tuesday before the start of the World Series on Wednesday, though I am rooting for the Birds because of Scott Walker whom my Dad points out (because he’s favoring the Brewers) the Crew is not responsible for.
I’ll also get to post S.I.M.P. video so many times you’ll be as sick of it as I am.
In tonight’s Battle of the Beers (when I drink it, it’s seldom Dos Equis), the Brewers are going to be hoping to solve their Pujols problem with Shaun Marcum who’s so far shown no indications of meriting their confidence. The Cardinals will counter with Edwin Jackson and then rely on their freshly rested Bullpen just as they have all series (if Jackson is pulled before the 5th they will have a majority of outs).
There are those who think reserving Gallardo on short rest for a hypothetical Game 7 is a mistake and we will no doubt hear from them should things go badly, but I think your energy is better spent hating on the Rangers.
I apologize to my Texan readers and realize that there are pockets of sanity and personal circumstances that dictate residence, but I have very little good to say about a State created to preserve slavery when the Mexican government outlawed it.
Oct 16 2011
2011 NLCS- Cardinals at Brewers Game 6
I won’t pretend to be happy about the Rangers win and whether or not the Cardinals do the same tonight I’ll have a day off on Tuesday before the start of the World Series on Wednesday, though I am rooting for the Birds because of Scott Walker whom my Dad points out (because he’s favoring the Brewers) the Crew is not responsible for.
I’ll also get to post S.I.M.P. video so many times you’ll be as sick of it as I am.
In tonight’s Battle of the Beers (when I drink it, it’s seldom Dos Equis), the Brewers are going to be hoping to solve their Pujols problem with Shaun Marcum who’s so far shown no indications of meriting their confidence. The Cardinals will counter with Edwin Jackson and then rely on their freshly rested Bullpen just as they have all series (if Jackson is pulled before the 5th they will have a majority of outs).
There are those who think reserving Gallardo on short rest for a hypothetical Game 7 is a mistake and we will no doubt hear from them should things go badly, but I think your energy is better spent hating on the Rangers.
I apologize to my Texan readers and realize that there are pockets of sanity and personal circumstances that dictate residence, but I have very little good to say about a State created to preserve slavery when the Mexican government outlawed it.
Oct 16 2011
Six In The Morning
Protests go global, rampage, tear gas in Rome
Minority of violent demonstrators stretch into evening, hours after tens of thousands of people join global ‘day of rage’ against bankers, politicians
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
Hundreds of hooded, masked protesters rampaged through Rome in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, torching cars and breaking windows during a larger peaceful protest against elites blamed for economic downturn.
Police repeatedly fired tear gas and water cannon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with a minority of violent demonstrators stretched into the evening, hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global “day of rage” against bankers and politicians.
Oct 16 2011
F1: Yeongam
A few interesting tidbits before we start. Vettel won’t suffer a penalty for blowing off a corner in Q3. I suppose the reason is he had already set a lap fast enough for his 2nd position on the grid. The stewards promise stern punishments for anyone else who attempts it. Red Bull used all Super Softs during Qualifying so they’re committed to an early pit and will then try and run long. Since the Supers take 3 or 4 laps to get to speed anyway and fall off quite quickly this probably not a handicap.
Ross Brawn of Mercedes vehemently denies the team is violating spending limits and then says they’re poorly written and porous. He also claims teams are extorting other teams that want to change their names.
They’re re-writing the ‘one defensive move rule’ to basically disallow any defensive moves at all.
Both Button and Hamilton are pooh-poohing the idea that Button is taking over the lead position on McLaren and trying to get next year’s car designed around his driving style, however no team is wasting any time on this season which is done. All that’s left is the race for second place.
There is no rain forecast. At the moment it appears Ricciardo will start.
Rebroadcast at 11:30 am. Not so pretty tables below.
Oct 16 2011
Occupy The World: Ode to Joy
They’re holding their empty palms in the air, chanting “These are our weapons!”
It’sīģŋ to show their peaceful resistance movement.
Oct 16 2011
2011 ALCS Tigers at Rangers Game 6
There is really no reason to be hopeful about the Tigers’ chances against the Rangers tonight, down 3 – 2, playing away, except for the pitching.
The Rangers will be starting Derek Holland who has been in a word, terrible. In the 2nd Game he wasn’t able to get out of the 3rd inning, Max Scherzer on the other hand went 6.
The day off after so many rain delays followed by consecutive starts may have allowed the Tigers to get a little better rested and healthier too.
IF (and it’s a big one) the Grrs squeak by and into Game 7 the matchup gets even better. Game 7 is scheduled to be Colby Lewis against Doug Fister. Lewis was decidedly underwhelming in his Game 3 appearance.
On the other hand the travel day gave the Ranger’s bullpen a rest too after covering some 23 innings in the first 5 games (that’s a little under half) during which their collective ERA has been 1.17.
So expect the hook quick and if the record is any guide I’ll have plenty of time to write my Yeongam Formula One piece (1:30 am) during the 123 late innings.
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