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Dec 03 2010

Prime Time

Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.  Some premiers, but basically a freaking desert.

I can’t get the antlers glued to this little guy. We tried Crazy Glue, but it don’t work.

Did you try staples?

…

You know what they say about people who treat other people bad on the way up?

Yeah, you get to treat ’em bad on the way back down too. It’s great, you get two chances to rough ’em up.

Later-

Dave in repeats (10/29).  Jon has Stacy Schiff, Stephen David Stockman.  Conan hosts Kardashians, Kevin Nealon, and Deerhunter

I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream; past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Methought I was… -man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was… -and methought I had… -man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I was and what methought I had.

Dec 03 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Russia, Qatar triumph at World Cup vote

by Rob Woollard, AFP

2 hrs 1 min ago

ZURICH (AFP) – Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar scored stunning victories in the battle for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups here Thursday after an acrimonious bidding war tainted by allegations of corruption.

In a historic conclusion to two years of frenzied lobbying, world football chief Sepp Blatter revealed the surprise winners following a secret ballot of 22 FIFA executive committee members in Zurich.

The announcement means the World Cup will be staged in two countries which have never hosted the event before following the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Dec 02 2010

Good for us

Liberal groups blast Obama for considering tax compromise

By Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 2, 2010; 10:50 AM

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has repeatedly attacked President Obama on the left, is airing an ad demanding that he not agree to any compromise with the GOP that would extend tax cuts for household incomes above $250,000 a year.

The spot is called “Obama Promised,” and the group says it will air on CNN and MSNBC and on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central over the next few days. It shows Obama in 2007 declaring that “we will also allow the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire.”

Meanwhile, Moveon.Org has its own new ad, titled “Obama Back,” which in cludes a video montage from Americans all over the country urging the president not to compromise.

“MoveOn members worked countless hours to help elect President Obama so we would have a leader who would go to the mat for regular Americans,” said Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn.org. “…We need the Obama of 2008 back to lead the fight and make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.”

Lefty group running ad slamming Obama — in Iowa

By Greg Sargent, The Washington Post

Posted at 11:01 AM ET, 12/ 2/2010

This means actual voters will see the spot, the first hitting Obama from the left of the new cycle. Iowa has special significance, because it’s there that Obama made his 2007 campaign promise to let the tax cuts for the wealthy expire, which is the centerpiece of the ad. The spot demands that Obama stick to his promise and not “cave” to Republicans by extending the tax cuts for the rich.

“We’re bringing our ad to the place President Obama made his core campaign promise of letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire,” Green tells me. “There is no room for compromise on an issue where the promise is so clear and where the Republicans are standing with the wealthiest 2% of Americans against the entirety of the American people.”

Between this spot and the new one unveiled this morning by MoveOn, it’s clear that the left has settled on a strategy of actively trying to damage Obama politically with the base and with left-leaning independents by painting him as weak, to force him to draw a harder line against Republicans. The left, clearly, has no intention of stopping with these efforts.

Surely some will insist that it only helps Obama to be attacked from the left. But efforts to encourage the perception that Obama is weak and refuses to fight — which is gaining some traction with the mainstream media, whether fair or not — could very well damage Obama politically over the long term. And the White House will probably have to deal with it sooner or later.

Dec 02 2010

Obstruction of Justice

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe

By David Corn, Mother Jones

Wed Dec. 1, 2010 2:47 PM PST

In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A “confidential” April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department-one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks-details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.

…

It would still be up to investigating Judge Baltasar Garzón-a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes-to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June-coincidentally or not-the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of “universal jurisdiction.” Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case.

The case eventually came to be overseen by another judge who last spring asked the parties behind the complaint to explain why the investigation should continue. Several human rights groups filed a brief urging this judge to keep the case alive, citing the Obama administration’s failure to prosecute the Bush officials. Since then, there’s been no action. The Obama administration essentially got what it wanted. The case of the Bush Six went away.

Back when it seemed that this case could become a major international issue, during an April 14, 2009, White House briefing, I asked press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama administration would cooperate with any request from the Spaniards for information and documents related to the Bush Six. He said, “I don’t want to get involved in hypotheticals.” What he didn’t disclose was that the Obama administration, working with Republicans, was actively pressuring the Spaniards to drop the investigation. Those efforts apparently paid off, and, as this WikiLeaks-released cable shows, Gonzales, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, Addington, and Yoo owed Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thank-you notes.

Another perspective-

The Madrid Cables

By Scott Horton, Harper’s Magazine

December 1, 3:51 PM, 2010

These cables reveal a large-scale, closely coordinated effort by the State Department to obstruct these criminal investigations. High-ranking U.S. visitors such as former Republican Party Chair Mel Martinez, Senator Greg Judd, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were corralled into this effort, warning Spanish political leaders that the criminal investigations would “be misunderstood” and would harm bilateral relations. The U.S. diplomats also sought out and communicated directly with judges and prosecutors, attempting to steer the cases into the hands of judges of their choosing. The cables also reflect an absolutely extraordinary rapport between the Madrid embassy and Spanish prosecutors, who repeatedly appear to be doing the embassy’s bidding.

…

The cables also reflect a high level of concern at the prospect that Spanish and German prosecutors-both looking at aspects of the kidnapping and torture of Khaled El-Masri-would share notes and begin taking action. In fact exactly this sort of cooperation occurred (as it has occurred between Spanish, German, and Italian prosecutors in several other cases involving the CIA extraordinary rendition program), and U.S. concerns that it would block their efforts were proven correct. After political pressure was applied to Germany to withdraw the arrest warrants, they were simply reissued by the Spanish magistrates, who were better shielded against political manipulation.

Dec 02 2010

When you’ve lost Howard Fineman…

Obama’s Naivete on Bipartisanship Has Finally Caught Up to Him

Howard Fineman, Senior Political Editor, The Huffington Post

Posted: December 1, 2010 01:37 PM

On the Hill yesterday, GOP aides privately could barely contain their contempt — and their amusement — at the president’s declaration of a dawn of bipartisan optimism.

They know that Obama already in effect has conceded on a two- or three-year extension of all tax cuts, and they are going to insist on that before considering anything else — which, in the end, they won’t.

Barack Obama and his crew have many good qualities. But that list does not include skill and guts at legislative combat with Republicans. They don’t seem to really know the enemy or the game they are in, and the president’s meager and glancing experience in the trenches of politics has caught up with him.

Dec 02 2010

Prime Time

Broadcast?  Feh.  Not much on cable either.  You could read a book or take a nap.

If you could’ve found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would’ve explained everything.

No, I don’t think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything… I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a… piece in a jigsaw puzzle… a missing piece.

Later-

Dave in repeats (11/18).  Jon has Sting, Stephen Michelle Rhee (ugh).  Conan hosts Joel McHale, Tim Gunn, and Cake.

Boondocks– Bitches to Rags.

As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit – you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings – I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Dec 02 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Russian fury on eve of World Cup vote

by Rob Woollard, AFP

46 mins ago

ZURICH (AFP) – Last-ditch lobbying for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups cranked into overdrive Wednesday as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched a thinly veiled attack against England’s bid on the eve of the vote.

The five countries battling for the 2022 football extravaganza — Australia, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Qatar — showcased their bids one last time in presentations at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Meanwhile, high-powered delegations from countries slugging it out for the 2018 tournament were engaging in frenzied politicking with the climax to the scandal-tainted vote less than 24 hours away.

Dec 01 2010

A Big Day in Economics News

Two of the major Washington based stories are extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest 2% on which the best policy from an economic standpoint is to let them all expire and replace them with Obama Tax Cuts for those consumers hardest hit by the Financial Depression and most likely to spend them so that as poor a tool as Tax Cuts are there is at least some increase in Aggregate Demand.

Simply extending any of the Bush Tax Cuts has ABSOLUTELY NO STIMULATIVE EFFECT WHATSOEVER, this is money people already have and have had for 10 years now.  Continuing it will NOT make consumers more likely to spend it- they already are.

The fact that this is also the best political policy makes it unlikely that the Obama Administration and the Institutional Democratic Party will adopt it.  Indeed the best “bi-partisan” compromise we can seem to hope for is tying it to extension of unemployment benefits (which are one of the most stimulative transfer payments, but not at all as economically productive as investment in infrastructure).

Another story out of Washington is the Catfood Commission meltdown.  Clearly there aren’t 14 votes for the Chairmen’s Mark, and no progress has been made on compromise.  Bowes-Simpson is essentially unchanged and all the initial objections still apply, the most fundamental of which is that it subsidizes Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Wealthy at the expense of neccessary Government Services (and one of those is Social Security which is not even part of the deficit).

Unfortunately Simpson is probably correct that Republicans will simply pull out the most pernicious, greedy, and hurtful ideas and push them.

Another Big Fail by Barack Hussein Obama and his confederacy of dunces and conservatives.

Anyway the best reporting I’ve seen so far (though I did sleep in) is at Firedog Lake and as a service I’ve collected some of their Front Page stories on the subject.  The one I think gives the best overview is Scarecrow’s.

dday has some pieces on the FDL News Desk that have not yet been Front Paged (though I’m sure they will be).  One on the Catfood Commission-

And others on the Tax Cuts-

Dec 01 2010

Prime Time

Two Holiday classics, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff!) and Rudolph (Burl Ives).  Also Rockefeller Center.  Yippie!

Well, I don’t have anything to say, you’ve done the best you could. You really have, the best you could. You can’t expect to win em all. But, I want to tell you something I’ve kept to myself through these years. I was in the war myself, medical corps. I was on late duty one night when they brought in a badly wounded pilot from one of the raids. He could barely talk. He looked at me and said, “The odds were against us up there, but we went in anyway, I’m glad the Captain made the right decision.” The pilot’s name was George Zip.

George Zip said that?

The last thing he said to me, “Doc,” he said, “some time when the crew is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they got and win just one for the Zipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Doc,” he said, “but I won’t smell too good, that’s for sure.”

Later-

Dave in repeats (11/4).  Jon has Susan Casey, Stephen Tom Vilsack.  Conan hosts Charles Barkley, Drew Pinsky, and Bo Burnham.

Boondocks– The Story of Gangstalicious

You’d better tell the Captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

A hospital? What is it?

It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.

Dec 01 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Ending gay ban poses little risk to military: Pentagon

AFP

2 hrs 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Pentagon study released Tuesday said ending a ban on gay soldiers serving openly would create no serious problem for the US military and that a “solid majority” of troops expressed no objection to the change.

The study, which the White House hopes will pave the way for Congress to lift the ban, concluded the risk “to overall military effectiveness is low” if the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is repealed.

“We are both convinced that our military can do this, even during this time of war,” wrote the report’s authors, General Carter Ham, and the Pentagon’s top legal adviser, Jeh Johnson.

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