DOWNLOADS: (52) PLAYS: (118) Rep. Peter King thinks the Obama administration's failure to have either the president himself or one of his officials give a press conference on the attempted Delta airline bombing is somehow the same as Bush not showing up in New Orleans right away after Katrina. I guess King wasn't satisfied that Rep. Pete Hoekstra w […]
DOWNLOADS: (147) PLAYS: (646) I thought conservatives hated the 'War on Christmas'. From C-SPAN's Washington Journal Dec. 24, 2009. TPM has more--Not Knowing What Else To Do, Health Reform Foe Takes Down Christmas Tree: No, this is not an Onion story. On C-SPAN's call in show this morning, a woman named Bunny from Parsons, Kansas, said sh […]
I suppose we'll have to sit with hands clasped and eyes straight ahead, too. And heaven forbid you need to use the bathroom! (Better get out the adult Depends.) Why, it'll be just like being back in Catholic school. Good thing so many of us are unemployed and can't afford to fly: In the wake of the terrorism attempt Friday on a Northwest Airli […]
Scholars and Rogues: Who Would Jesus Whack? The Black Snob: What About Kwanzaa? Down with Tyranny!: The Scorn Awards Field Negro: Is it time for Michael Steele to switch parties? OneGoodMove: And finally tonight, [even more] Jesus... Mike is away until Thursday; round up by Blue Gal.
The late Vic Chesnutt -- Flirted With You All My Life On Christmas Day, Vic Chesnutt took his own life at the too-young age of 45 with an overdose of prescription pills. Vic carved out a small but not insignificant career as a folk musician, despite being a paraplegic, the result of a single car crash at 18. I thought of Vic as I looked at this week's r […]
The conservative media are now labeling the Independent Medicare Advisory Board created by the Senate health care reform bill a "death panel," even though the board is explicitly prohibited from "modify[ing] eligibility," "restrict[ing] benefits," or "ration[ing] health care" and its recommendations can be overridden b […]
Glenn Beck's Fusion magazine claims to provide its subscribers with "the latest perspective on what is happening in our world, coupled with [Beck's] personal thoughts as 'work in progress' as well as cutting edge comedy and satire." But the December 2009 issue of Fusion simply rehashed many of the falsehoods, smears, and hysteri […]
Taking a cue from Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, several conservative media outlets have reported on three ornaments on the White House Christmas tree depicting President Obama's face superimposed on Mount Rushmore, Mao Zedong, and Hedda Lettuce. Despite the suggestion that those three Christmas tree ornaments (out of hundreds) indicated a […]
On Fox & Friends, Dick Morris falsely claimed that the "Medicare Advisory Board" in the revised Senate health care bill will "be saying no, you can't give this person a hip replacement, they are too old, and no, you can't treat this person with colon cancer with the best drug available." In fact, the bill states that the Adv […]
On Fox News' America's Newsroom, anchor Patti Ann Browne allowed Citizens Against Government Waste's David Williams to falsely claim that the Senate health care bill is "going to bankrupt this country in a matter of years." Browne at no point noted that the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] reported that the Senate's health refo […]
Economist Robert Shiller is concerned about corporations and the increasing disconnect between their profits and the incomes of ordinary Americans. The NY Times carries his op-ed here.
Not exactly peace either:
The top headline continues to be how one Nigerian student managed to confound all that bothersome anti-terrorist safety measures at one of the world’s most sophisticated airports. There is also a cacophony of criticism from the right over the Obama response to what some are characterizing as a very close call for the airliner and its passengers.
Things are getting more messy in Iran as celebrations of Ashura have turned into a day of protests and violence. (There are some very graphic links on that live blog and some are quite disturbing.)
How difficult that sentiment is to achieve! I wonder how many lips utter some combination of those words in many languages and in many religions this time of year. Yet, the manifestation of this hope is as ephemeral as the desire to see ghosts, touch god, or travel to another planet filled with sentient beings. Where is the wisdom we seek to achieve the perfection of spirit, of individual, and of whole? Is it now or some other time over which we have no control?
These are really difficult times. But when have things been any easier? Yet another well-educated, wealthy and privileged son has taken up the cause of extremism and looked to his karma or fate or path of god as destruction of human life. What causes this? What also causes the feelings we have that the lives of the few he would take are some how more symbolic than the lives of many lost day-in-and-day-out in wars that leaders designate ‘just’ or in poverty or lifestyles that leaders ignore or disdain? Is one life some how more precious than another simply because it serves to remind us of how impermanent things are for us?
It is odd that at a time when we look to a new year and perhaps a new hope that a leader that looks to every televised appearance as a chance to stand out is hidden on a beach, or gym, or basketball court, or golf course of the nation’s paradise state.
Paradise is so easily lost.
Perhaps it is because Leno and Letterman are at home opening their many presents and not filming this weekend. Perhaps it is easier to ignore the craziness of one man looking to join the gestalt of many and failing than to answer the questions we all have at this time of year. But, isn’t it just precisely this moment when we look to those who aspire to true leadership to set the tone of our national response?
How do we weigh injustice and damage done? Who is worth a beer summit and who is worth a cold shoulder or silence?
There is a diary at The Sentinal (FDL) that I want to share. Gordon Ginsberg ponders the nature of leadership at a time when so many people look outside of themselves for hope promised and not delivered.
I’m putting up an open thread because this is a busy time of year as well as one when we should stop and think about what we want of our next year. Stop and think what you’re going to make of 2010 before it is upon you.
May 2010 be filled with peace and may that peace begin with each and every one of us.
The BFF was half awake this morning but he still remembered what he wanted to do today. His first words this morning were, “Boxing Day”. In UK countries, the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. This is the day when those of us with stuff give some of it away to our favorite charitable institutions.
Last night, the BFF showed me his Kiva map. It looked like one of those maps you see in the back of your in-flight magazine. My jaw dropped. “Ok”, he said, “Let’s see yours. What did you say the name of your group was called?”
I’m feeling the heat guys. We need to put up or shut up.
Then, there’s always the gift of sustenance. While I was pigging out on roast beast and Yorkshire pudding, there were American’s all over the country who were just getting by. Food insecurity is a big problem in this country these days.
These are just three recommendations for fulfilling your Boxing Day obligations. And it is an obligation, guys. You can’t expect people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps if you don’t give them boots. The money you send to organizations like Kiva will help entrepreneurs all over the world as they put that money to work. For those of you who want to help a starving artist bring beauty to the world, kickstarter can help you connect. And if we want to help that young physicist solve the energy crisis someday, let’s make sure her brain is well fed with FeedingAmerica.
Can you spare $25? These organizations can make your money go a long way. Combined with other donations, we can make a lot of people more happy and hopeful in the year to come.
Here are my suggestions for your Boxing Day contributions:
Federal officials and police are interviewing a Nigerian man, who allegedly tried to “explode” a powdery substance aboard a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said.
The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect’s statements are being questioned, officials said.
The suspect was identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who according to federal documents is an engineering student at University College of London.
A Nigerian man is “talking a lot” to the FBI, said a senior U.S. official, after what the United States believes was an attempted terrorist attack on an inbound international flight.
The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation.
The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited a small explosive device Friday, shortly before a Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, landed at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan.
Passenger Jasper Schuringa told CNN that with the aid of the cabin crew, he helped subdue and isolate Abdulmutallab.
Abdulmutallab was taken into custody and is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his thighs, according to federal law enforcement and airline security sources.
Counterterrorism officers are searching buildings in London in connection with the alleged terrorist attempt aboard a flight to Detroit, police said Saturday.
The officers were believed to be searching locations including an apartment block in central London, but a spokeswoman for the city’s Metropolitan Police would not say specifically where and what they are looking for, or how many officers are involved.
She also said the police are making several inquiries at the request of U.S. authorities.
This version with Alistair Sim is the best one ever made and is faithful to the original story by Charles Dickens. The tale is more than just an entertaining story of one man’s redemption, it is an indictment of 19th Century industrial capitalism. Modern corporatists have taken the lesson to heart and eschewed somberness and sobriety in favor of hedonism and conspicuous consumption (for themselves – the poor can take an old cold tater and wait.)
No matter who you are or where you come from, there once was family member of yours long, long ago who woke up on a morning like this one and praised the light for coming back. It is the return of warmth and illumination, the promise of growth, the banishing of fear and the light of reason.
Whatever your holiday tradition, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa or Human Light, we at The Conflucnce hope that it is a happy one, filled with friends, family and the inner joy of just being alive.
Merry Christmas Conflucians! I hope everyone has a lovely day today. News events march onward, of course, despite the holiday season. Here are some stories that caught my eye this morning. Please add your own important and interesting links in the comments.
Boy, was this writer’s talent ever wasted on the progs at dailykos! There is really no way to provide an excerpt that will do this piece justice. You really do have to read the whole thing.
A woman leaped over a barricade at midnight mass at the Vatican and knocked Pope Benedict onto the marble floor. Here is some amateur video of the events.
In an effort to calm growing tensions with Jewish groups, the Vatican said Wednesday that Pope Benedict XVI’s decision moving the wartime pope Pius XII closer to sainthood was not a “hostile act” against those who believe Pius did not do enough to stop the Holocaust.
Really?
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement saying that the beatification process evaluated the “Christian life” of Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, and not “the historical impact of all his operative decisions.”
Moving Pius toward sainthood “is in no way to be read as a hostile act towards the Jewish people, and it is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church,” Father Lombardi wrote.
That sounds a little odd and hypocritcal to me, but then I don’t really believe in the concept of sainthood. The Catholic Church made Maria Goretti a saint because she supposedly forgave the man who raped and murdered her. That tells me that the Church’s decisions about sainthood actually do send messages.
But there’s one common Christmas practice not on the First Family’s schedule: a visit to Christmas Eve church services.
Why am I not surprised?
Church, in fact, has been a surprisingly tough issue for the Obamas. They resigned their membership with Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in 2008 after Obama renounced the church’s controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. And while the First Family intended to find a local church to attend when they moved to Washington, concerns about crowds and displacing regular worshippers has prevented them from finding a new religious home during their first year here.
The Obamas have attended Sunday services in Washington three times this year — once at the predominantly African-American 19th Street Baptist Church, and twice at St. John’s Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House.
Three times in a whole year! Amazing, for such a deeply religious man {snort}
There are many debates among progressives now on the true nature of Barack Obama. Did he mean anything he said on the campaign trail? Is he really a progressive? Did he ever mean to challenge the status quo or was he using the word “change” as a campaign gimmick? Is he just a corporatist like most other politicians?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! That’s funny. I know Cenk can’t possibly think there’s a chance in hell that Obama actually meant any of the promises he made while campaigning. Come on!
Does he mean well or does he have bad intentions? Come on, don’t be ridiculous. Of course, he means well. But in his own mind, George Bush thought he meant well too (for the most part). I’m positive that Obama thinks that he is doing the best he can to bring about as much change as he can within the limits of this system.
Ooops! I guess Cenk has a way to go before he finally gets all that Koolaid out of his system.
Is he a true progressive or a corporatist sell out? Well, that depends on what you mean. Has he wound up helping corporate America tremendously through health care “reform,” finance “reform,” etc.? Well, Wall Street certainly seems to think so (and so do most progressives). Did he do that because he thought, “I can’t wait to help corporate America and screw over the little guy”? No, I’m sure he thought he had to accommodate the powers that be in order to affect any change at all in this system. But the bottom line has been the same, either way – the system has been tweaked but corporate America chugs along with even more government largesse than before.
I’m sure Obama is a progressive that would help the average American if he thought he could. But apparently he thinks he can’t. He can only bring them a small amount of change because of what he thinks the system will allow.
Uh huh. Keep on telling yourself that, Cenk. Maybe it will somehow make you feel better about being hoodwinked into voting for Bush III.
Krugman scolds people like us who think the bill is nothing but a big mess of corporate giveaways and efforts to control women’s bodies:
Finally, there has been opposition from some progressives who are unhappy with the bill’s limitations. Some would settle for nothing less than a full, Medicare-type, single-payer system. Others had their hearts set on the creation of a public option to compete with private insurers. And there are complaints that the subsidies are inadequate, that many families will still have trouble paying for medical care.
Unlike the tea partiers and the humbuggers, disappointed progressives have valid complaints. But those complaints don’t add up to a reason to reject the bill. Yes, it’s a hackneyed phrase, but politics is the art of the possible.
Oddly, Krugman never mentions either the anti-abortion language in both the House and Senate versions of the bill; nor does he address the shoring up of the Bush conscience rules in the Senate version. How very very strange. I guess Krugman thinks it’s just fine if Congress passes a health care bill for men that allows the government and health care workers to control women’s choices.
The News side of Krugman’s paper isn’t as sanguine as he is.
what about the roughly 160 million workers and their dependents who already have health insurance through an employer? For many people, the result of the long, angry health care debate in Washington may be little more than more of the same.
As President Obama once promised, “If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.”
That may be true even if you don’t like your health plan. And no one seems to agree on whether the legislation will do much to reduce workers’ continually rising out-of-pocket costs.
When I was just out of high school I worked as a waitress at the local Howard Johnson’s. As the junior employee, I was usually one of those who were assigned to work weekends and holidays. Because of this, when Christmas Eve rolled around, I could pretty much count on spending some time there. The one thing I remember most about those Christmas Eves is how many lonely people would come in for dinner, usually sitting at the counter alone. Most were older men whose wives had passed on and whose children apparently had better things to do. It was obvious they were searching for a human connection on a night when most people were blessed to have family and friends surrounding them.
Those Christmas Eves at Howard Johnson’s remain in my heart as a reminder of how fortunate I am to be with those I love at this time of year. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious or secular holiday, the real gift we share is in caring for one another. It’s one of the things that makes this community here so special. The Confluence has been a place of friendship for so many, including myself — albeit in a virtual sense. Front-pagers, regular commenters, occasional drop-ins, and lurkers all come here to connect with others of like mind. Most of us will never meet, but the community of interest we share is cathartic and energizing. Even more importantly, we are like a family.
I can never thank all of you here enough for the friendship and camaraderie you’ve bestowed upon me personally. It is one of the things I count when taking inventory of my blessings. It’s nice to know we’re not alone. Any time, night or day, The Confluence is open for business and friends will be stopping by.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you personally and wish all of you a joyful holiday, and a special thanks to Riverdaughter for creating this wonderful place. I’m glad you’re here. Enjoy the season, with a Christmas heart.
Good Morning Conflucians! It’s hard to believe, but The Confluence is nearly two years old. In early 2008, Riverdaughter started this blog as an oasis for disaffected Kossacks who dared to question whether Barack Obama was the right choice for the Democratic nomination.
Riverdaughter hung in day after day, posting her intelligent and snarky commentary on daily events in one of the most hard-fought nomination fights I can remember. Gradually this blog grew into a small but powerful alternative voice in the liberal blogosphere.
After the RBC meeting on May 31, 2008, when the deal was sealed to install Obama as nominee, SM came up with the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) acronym, and her idea went viral. Although we have been reviled for our dissident views, and we had to fight off numerous ugly troll-storms, we hung together through the Convention farce and the general election campaign.
After the election we continued on as an alternative liberal voice–a thorn in the side of the prog blogs and Obama syncophants who thought we would slink off and never be heard from again. Fat chance! Unfortunately, the puma label was twisted into things we had never intended, so we don’t use it anymore. We’ve moved on to be a voice in the wilderness, providing political commentary from the point of view of people whose eyes were wide open all along instead of clouded by Koolaid haze.
Each day that passes shows how right we were in our trepidation about Obama. More and more Americans are waking up to the reality that Obama isn’t much of a change from Bush. These days you see griping about Obama’s policies all over the liberal blogs, but no one wants to acknowledge that we were right all along. Jane Hamsher, for example would rather work with Grover Norquist and the tea party crowd than include us in her efforts to fight the health insurance bailout bill.
Something tells me we’ll continue to hang in there. My best Christmas present this year is waking up in the morning knowing that TC is here and I can count on all you Conflucians to pick me up when I’m down. And lately there have been more mornings when I wake up to find a brilliant Riverdaughter rant to read! I appears that RD’s hypergraphia is back, and that makes me really happy this holiday season.
So on this Christmas Eve, 2009, I want to thank each and every one of you for your contributions to this blog. That is the best Christmas present I can think of.
Here are some links to get the discussion going. Please post your own choice links in the comments.
“I think the Obama administration has followed the same playbook, to a large extent, almost verbatim, as the Bush administration. I don’t see anything different,” the activist movie actor said of Obama’s policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. “On the domestic side, look here: What’s so clear is that this country from the outset is projecting the interests of wealth and property. Look at the bailout of Wall Street. Why not the bailout of Main Street?”
That’s a good start, but Glover goes on to blame the system for Obama’s actions:
“What choice does he have—in four years, eight years? Let’s just call a spade a spade. Really. There are no choices out there. He may be just a different face, and that face may happen to be black—and if it were Hillary Clinton, it would happen to be a woman—but what choices do they have within the structure?”
Um…How come the Republicans always had choices–even when they didn’t control Congress–but the Democrats don’t? The Democrats have a supermajority and they’re still acting like Republicans. Danny Glover has a way to go before he completely wakes up to reality, but it’s a start.
When US presidents offer us their holiday greeting messages, do we know what are they really saying? How hard can it be to figure that out? Langston Hughes died in 1967, but he knew what every US president, including Barack Obama is really saying, underneath and behind the mask.
Go read the whole thing!
Of course the big news of the day is that the Senate has passed their monstrosity of a “health care reform” bill.
Thursday’s vote was a victory for President Barack Obama, who made the issue his top domestic priority despite lingering divisions among Democrats and the fierce opposition of Republicans. And it was a validation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to build consensus on his side of the aisle, rather than reach across party lines, a move that would have forced a lowering of ambitions.
What a pile of crap that is! What ambitions? Does the WSJ really believe that Republicans don’t want to hand over wads of money to giant health care corporations? And if Obama is the victor, who are the vanquished? Women mainly.
If the Stupak and Nelson language survives reconciliation between the House and Senate versions of the bill, abortion will effectively be abolished in many parts of the U.S. If the abortion isn’t covered by health insurance, doctors won’t perform them, and medical schools won’t provide training (many already do not). On top of that the conscience rules are strengthened in this bill to protect health care and pharmacy workers who refuse to provide treatment to women who need abortions, including rape victims who ask for the morning after pill and women who want birth control in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
To supplement reporting by our colleagues Robert Worth and Nazila Fathi on protests and clashes in Iran on Sunday, The Lede is following news of the events published online.
In Tehran, members of a pro-government militia broke into a mosque where former President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist leader, was speaking, forcing him to break off before concluding his remarks. Video appearing to show the incident was posted on YouTube.
Good Afternoon Conflucians!
The BFF was half awake this morning but he still remembered what he wanted to do today. His first words this morning were, “Boxing Day”. In UK countries, the day after Christmas is known as 
