Caroline Kennedy drops out

In one of the most bizzarre articles I have ever read at the NYTimes, comes news that Caroline Kennedy decides to not pursue Hillary’s seat because of her uncle’s health.  But, her anonymous friends exclaim, she could have had the job if she wanted it.  It’s just that, um, she didn’t want it.  Did she mention her uncle was sick?  Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York, according to a person told of her decision.

Ms. Kennedy on Wednesday called Gov. David A. Paterson, who will choose a successor to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, to inform him that she no longer wished to be considered.

The person told of her decision said that Ms. Kennedy’s concerns about the health of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who suffers from brain cancer and was hospitalized after suffering a seizure Tuesday, prompted her to withdraw.

Ms. Kennedy believed that the job was hers if she would accept it, the person said, but aides to Mr. Paterson would not comment on whether that was true.

…

There have been conflicting signals about whether Mr. Paterson had settled on Ms. Kennedy for the job. Mr. Paterson said earlier this week that he had chosen someone, but some advisers, as recently as Wednesday, remained convinced that he not yet made up his mind on whom to pick.

One close friend of the governor’s said on Wednesday afternoon that “I would be totally shocked” if Mr. Paterson did not pick Ms. Kennedy.

“If he doesn’t go with her, how angry is the Democratic leadership going to be with him?” the friend said.

You know, I don’t think Harry Reid gives a flying fig whether the choice is Caroline or some other Democrat as long as the vote is there when he needs it and the person has a decent shot at retaining the seat. But it’s pretty clear that someone at the Times has it bad for Lady Caroline.  Anyway, the whole reason for dropping out is just silly.  Let’s me see if I can write better copy:

Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York, according to a person told of her decision.  Ms. Kennedy was notified by Governor Paterson’s office shortly after Senator Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State that the Governor had selected another candidate to fill the office.  Unconfirmed reports suggest that Senator Charles Schumer has been actively promoting Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) behind the scenes as the person who has the best combination of legislative and electoral experience to hold the seat for the Democrats.

Ms. Kennedy said that she will be spending the next several months with the elder statesman, Senator Edward Kennedy, her uncle, whose health has been in decline since the discovery last year of an agressive form of brain cancer.  Senator Kennedy suffered convulsions at the Inaugural luncheon at Statuary Hall yesterday.  Although he has recovered and has been released from the hospital, the convulsions are a clear indicator that the tumor has regained the mass that was removed in last year’s surgery.  Ms. Kennedy has expressed a desire to remain with her uncle and help him in any capacity.

Ok, see, that’s much more straightforward but a lot less entertaining than the NYT piece.  Still, I’m relieved.

Keep those cards and letters flowing.  Go Carolyn!

Barack Obama, The Underachiever’s President

Beforehand, my apologies to scrubs57 for breaking my penance!   It’s been all family the past few days.  Grandma PUMA had outpatient surgery yesterday so I wasn’t bombarded all day with President Obama’s Inaugural Bacchanal.  While it is a cause for celebration,  I would have respected Obama 2.0 a lot more if a more austere, more organized (see MYIQ2XU’s Purple People Eater a.k.a. Tunnel of Doom post) event had taken place.  A missed opportunity of fiscal responsibility and conscientiousness towards millions of Americans suffering from the economic crisis would have fared much better public relations-wise,  IMHO.

But nooo, this is time for an all out PAAAARTAY!!!!!!!!   Not quite, thanks to a Boston-area sisterfriend who sent me this sobering piece written by Marc Lamont Hill (Fox News/Temple University):

Still, as we celebrate this watershed moment, it is important that we not become too self-satisfied, too pleased with our collective maturity. Indeed, it is one thing for a nation to finally accept that a black man can represent its interests.  It is another thing entirely to question the nature of those interests. The working poor will be no happier to know that a black man is undermining their prosperity. Gays and lesbians will see no moral victory in having their civil rights stripped away by fellow minority. Continental Africans will find no solace in the fact that one of their sons is aiding and abetting its exploitation. For America to truly mature, we must not only acknowledge its bright light, we must also come to terms with its dark underside. Militarism, violence, consumerism, homophobia, patriarchy, anti-intellectualism, and countless other hallmarks of the American empire must die in order for a new, more mature America to be born. Otherwise, we have done nothing more than put a slave in charge of the plantation.

Of course, the responsibility of seizing this moment does not start and end with President Obama. As Rev. Jesse Jackson aptly stated, the inauguration was merely the wedding; the marriage begins today. To keep this marriage healthy, we must commit ourselves to its continued growth and development. This means pushing Obama to become the leader that he can be by being the citizens that we must be. This requires being just as critical of our new president as we were with his predecessor. This demands that we not retreat to the political sidelines until the next presidential election. To do so would be to squander one of the greatest opportunities that our nation has ever had. While I am not optimistic, I remain a prisoner of hope. Not in President Obama. But in our collective ability to not only grow old, but grow up.

Marc is right on all points, except he missed MISOGYNY.   Marc is still hopeful that Obama will come through for us.  But we all know if he didn’t come through during the primaries, he sure as hell won’t now.   And no Marc, America didn’t vote for a slave to run the plantation, it chose Bart Simpson to rule the roost.

Who needs to study when you can bum off your smart sister’s homework, then blame her for you stealing the answers?  Why even bother playing by the rules  when you know they’ll be somebody to W.O.R.M. you out of it?  Why bother earning your stripes in the Senate when you can spend your first term running for President without any major achievements except for being really good at reading a teleprompter?

While I waited for Grandma PUMA at the hospital waiting room, I did catch a moment where President Obama and the First Lady got out of their car and walked a piece of the Inaurgral Parade. An older African-American woman (probably in her 50s) sitting next to me, who I’d chat with on & off during our collective wait, gleamed as she turned to me and said,   “Look at that, he’s so tough to be out there in that cold.”

I looked up from my book and just about lost my cool.  I turned to her and said, “Michelle is out there too and in a skirt with heels, don’t you think it’s harder for her? And that’s always done in every inauguration, there is a piece of secured path on the parade where the President and First Lady get out of the car then walk for a block then get back in the car.”

She said, “oh but it’s never been that cold, Only a black man can take that kind of cold.”  I snapped back to her, ” It’s always cold in January in DC!  It’s the least he can do for his country given his lack of experience – let him walk 10 miles, 20 miles because there have been a whole lotta people who deserve that presidential spot and have given a helluva lot more than him.”

She said, “But this is a BLACK man, just enjoy the moment that we finally got one!”

I said, “There are tons of more qualified Black people to take that spot, and you know it.”  She said “Yes, I know, but it doesn’t matter now. ”  I said, “It matters to me because we could’ve had a great woman who earned that spot and comes through with what she promises.  She said, “You mean Hillary?”  I nodded, then she said,  “Oh yes, I love Hillary, she is the best there is.”  I said, “So you actually think that Obama is going to be just as good as Hillary?”  She said, “It don’t matter, she’s going to be there to help him.”  I said, “Don’t you think that’s wrong though, to have a more experienced qualified woman be looked over for the inexperienced younger man?”  She said “James Brown said ‘it’s man’s world’, so we just gotta deal with it.”  I said, “Remind me never to tell my daughter what you just said.”

At that moment was a pregnant pause, then it was saved by a nurse who called the very nice, but quite Obamatized woman into the recovery area – her husband had just woken up from anesthesia and was doing fine.  We said our polite nice to meet you’s – but I was fuming inside.  Is this the kind of asswiping we are going to endure for 4 years?    I had 8 asswiping years from Republicans – now we’re all going to deal with asswiping O-pologisists cleaning up Obama’s skid marks.   And like Bush 2.0, Obama Porniacs will sober up soon like reluctant Republicans.

Well I have a message for the O-pologists:Alas, my dear Lisa, the answer to that is: BOTH.

PS:   S.O.S Hillary!!!!!!! Much better than VP.  True hope is not all lost.

President Obama’s First Day: Touch Tones

This is kind of a personal post. I hope you don’t mind. But I just really needed to share. If you don’t want to deal with my self-involved ramblings, feel free to skip right to the comments.

So far I haven’t had a very good day. I had an argument with my mom because she doesn’t want me to keep talking about how Obama is going to destroy mess with “reform” social security. I pointed out that she was the one who brought up Obama first. I can understand why she gets tired of my negative talk about Obama, but I get also get frustrated, because she knows better but just wants to pretend that either Obama will somehow do the right thing or that Congress will stop him from enacting his Reaganesque agenda. I also don’t like feeling like an outcast in my own family. In the past we have all mostly agreed about politics.

After this unpleasantness, I start thinking about the situation we are in. I really do want Obama to do the right things for the country. I will never like him as a person or as a leader, but if he does something right I’m willing to give him credit. I also think that if I’m going to critique his policies, I have to approach them with an open, though suspicious mind. This morning I heard that Obama ordered a halt to the show trials in Guantanamo for 120 days until the cases can be reviewed. I thought, “well, that’s not bad. It’s a start.” But then MadamaB posted a comment saying that it’s not nearly enough. She said

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

He should say RIGHT AWAY that the prosecutors have to produce evidence within 30 days or the prisoners have to be released. If any of those people are guilty, then the US should be able to prove it in a real court of law.

Isn’t that what we all used to believe in America? Innocent until proven guilty?

I’m not very knowledgeable about the law, but that sounds right to me. As usual, Obama is too tentative, to cautious–not willing to go the whole way. Still I’ve been telling myself today to keep an open mind. He’s the only President that we have, and he can affect our lives in so many ways–good or bad. In many ways I’m finding this even harder to do than it was with George W. Bush. I still consider myself a Democrat and to have a President from my own party who basically seems like a Republican is really difficult to bear. There are also all the resentments I have about his sexist, misogynistic behavior during the campaign, his refusal to hold his minions in the press accountable for the violent anti-woman rhetoric they used to help him get elected, and his silence after the disgusting prank by Jon Favreau are simply unforgivable as far as I’m concerned–as are his race-baiting of Hillary and Bill Clinton.

So I was mulling all of this over, and then while driving home I turned on one of the local talk stations, WTTK and listened to the token “liberal” show with Margery Eagan and Jim Braude. These two Obots were actually criticising aspects of the Inauguration events. I continued to listen, trying to maintain an objective attitude. During the show, the hosts cut to Obama’s first press availability as President. He announced several new executive orders including ethics rules for lobbyists, more openness in government responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, and a pay freeze for some of his staff. OK, not a huge deal, but still it’s good right? Especially the Freedom of Information Act part. I don’t buy that the lobbying rules will make the slightest difference, but maybe he means it about FOIA. In the middle of Obama’s statement I had to get out out of the car to run into the grocery store. As I shopped for a few items, I was feeling really good about myself. I was actually approving something that Obama did. I was proud of being able to overcome my reflexive enmity toward him and just try to react as a citizen who needs the President to do a good job. So you get the picture. I want to give the guy a chance even though I thoroughly dislike him as a person.

When I came back out to the car, I heard a replay of Obama’s statement. Here is how CNN reported it.

Promising “a new era of openness in our country,” President Barack Obama signed several executive orders Wednesday relating to ethics guidelines for staff members of his administration.

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” Obama said.

Among other things, Obama said he would issue a pay freeze for his senior staff.

But that isn’t what he said. I heard it. Obama said, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touch tones of this presidency.” Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! All my nice peaceful feelings taking a wait and see approach went right out the window. But I’m going to keep trying. I really don’t want the guy to finish what Bush stared and completely destroy the country. I’ll keep trying to keep an open mind. But belive me, it’s not gonna be easy. Thank goodness for you tube. The press will clean up all the Obamisms, not print them like they did with Bush. The Obamaism occurs toward the end of the press conference at around 6:42, at the point where he’s talking about FOIA requests.

UPDATE: Hillary Clinton has just been confirmed as Secretary of State. Spontaneous applause broke out in the Senate. Two votes against.

GOP gets crack at women’s paychecks thanks to Harry Reid

Oh, yeah, our lives are so cushy that the Republicans are going to have a chance to offer amendments to the bills that would have evened things out and Harry Reid is giving them the means to do it:
“Further, when those bills were considered on the floor and there were no opportunities for Republican senators to offer amendments, millions of our constituents were denied the right to be heard.”

So saith Mitch McConnell whose constituents must consist entirely of male small business owners or whose female constituents are perfectly content to pay the same prices as men for everything from housing to daycare but do it on significantly reduced wages and all from the comfort of their burqas.

Hey, if they want to defend the indefensible in a public forum, by all means, let’er rip! I’m sure we’ll hear all about the poor put-upon company owners with less than 25 employees who can’t afford to give women raises. Or we’ll hear about frivolous lawsuits, like women struggling to make a living wage will have the money for a lawsuit. Oh yeah, legal bills, court costs and time off from work. How frivolous. It makes me want to run out and buy a Kate Spade handbag and a pair if Jimmy Choo shoes just thinking about it.

The problem isn’t that the Republicans are going to look like anachronistic, hardhearted fools while they argue that women shouldn’t be compensated equally as men for the same work. No, the stupid thing is that this is even open to amendments at all since Reud shouldn’t have any trouble getting it to pass amendment free. He doesn’t need any Republican votes so why open *this* bill up for amendments? Is it so he can embarrass the GOP?

Somebody better find out because it makes my blood boil to think the Senate is messing with women when this should be the law if the land without any dispute.

More Change

The last thread was full – keep it going here

Wednesday: You’re perfect, they love you, now Change!

CHANGE! CHANGE! CHANGE!

Now that George W. Bush has managed to make a clean getaway instead of getting tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail straight to a federal maximum security prison, it’s time for America to assess the damage he and his bands of vandals have left behind.  Now, I realize that it may take Barack Obama a couple of days to show us his big stimulus package but that shouldn’t stop him from changing some very important things right now.  Like today.  What better time than the present for him to demonstrate to his myriad supporters that he really is the most amazingly perfect human being to have walked the earth since Jesus Christ?  And you Obots out there, don’t let the hangover of the morning after let anything stop you from asking him to carry through.  Surely, he will want to hear from you now that the two of you have seen paradise by the dashboard light together.

Here are the things I would like Obama to do, TODAY, to show us in good faith what a Change™ agent is all about. He cleared the field of all of the non-Change agents for our own good, so let’s get to work!  These are things that George W. Bush either changed (*he* was a change agent too, apparently) or perpetuated as a holdover from the Republican Movement Conservatives:

1. Restore habeas corpus.
2. Rescind “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
3. Rescind the Bush Conscience Rule.
4. Rescind the Reagan Gag Rule on family planning organizations.
5. Reconstruct the wall between church and state by eliminating the Office of Faith Based Initiatives.
6. Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security.

That’s just my list for today.  Like I said, the economic stuff can wait until Friday when we should expect the stimulus package that would dwarf FDR’s plan, because that is what it’s going to take to save us from catastrophe or a very, VERY long recovery.

But lest the above list look too lefty, let me explain where I’m coming from.  Habeas corpus has been around since 1215AD and is essential to a free people.  The government can’t just cart you off to prison and hold you indefinitely without charging you.  Well, they couldn’t until George W. Bush came along.  Restoring the Rule of Law and not men requires that we have habeas corpus.  To me, it’s the most important thing on the list.  Items 2, 3, and 4 are just consistent with the values of the Obama supporters and non-Obama supporters who came of age during the 80’s who believe women have a right to privacy and that the gay community has a right to serve their country.  Obama’s campaign took the warning level up to code red where abortion was concerned.  Now is the time to bring the country back to code green like he promised.  Oh, he didn’t promise?   Well, I want him to do it anyway.  As for DADT, the country can use all of the help it can get like arab translators.  Why burden itself with qualified citizens who can’t serve or women whose lives and futures are subject to the decisions of others? Change!™

The Office of Faith Based Initiatives has always been a propaganda unit.  We know this from the guy who was asked to set it up, was quickly disillusioned and retired.  As James Madison said, God shouldn’t need any help from the state.  It would sort of make him less God like.  Plus, it discriminates against people who don’t have faith and don’t want one.  No one likes to have religion forced down their throats.  I guarantee that there were millions of Americans yesterday who were not impressed that Rick Warren knew how to say Jesus in 4 languages.  I as a believer have no right to dictate what goes on in your head nor should I make you pay for my proselytizing activities or the political activities of my party under the guise of religion.  It’s a bad office.  Sorry.  It’s got to go.  The sooner the better.  Like by the end of business today. Actually, if Obama is following Lincoln on this, he is probably aware that Lincoln was the *least* likely president to endorse any kind of organized religion.  He had a real bug up his butt about it.  Preachers like Rick Warren would have been on Lincoln’s $#@! list.  But I digress.

The Department of Homeland Security sounded like a good idea when it was proposed after 9/11.  Yeah, gang!  Let’s get everyone together in the barn and have a show!  But it has become a bloated patronage machine that sounds like it came straight from a Leni Riefenstahl film on the Third Reich.  It has been poorly managed since its creation, used to terrify the voters into pulling the Republican lever and undoubtably has been involved in violating our privacy.  The departments under its domain will still exist if it doesn’t so why not pull it down and see what they’ve really used it for?  I suspect skullduggery.  Better to ferret it out now.

So there are my first 6.  I could go on but like I said, I’m saving my economic suggestions for Friday when we can talk about putting all of the bankers in a time out corner and confiscating all of their ill-gotten booty.

What would you like to see Change!™ by the end of business today?

Obama Supporters Get Teabagged in Purple Tunnel Of Doom

Inside the "Purple" tunnel

 

From Barack Oblogger:

I’m one of those Obamaites some people hate. Since the day he announced his candidacy, I have been working full-bore to get this man elected. I’ve been a volunteer and a staff member. My family has been brought to the verge of economic collapse due to my dedication toward the campaign and its untold volunteer hours. Life has been put on hold, household repairs have gone undone, there has been tension in my relationship with an extremely supportive and patient spouse, who would have loved to see my passion for Obama put into a proper financial perspective. My two children have sold bumper stickers, buttons, and have put up with Mom blogging for Obama in her “spare time” for almost two years.

[…]

And that’s why my let-down about the Inauguration is that much greater. Because I was unlucky enough, along with thousands of other Obama volunteers, to have been given one of the “Purple Tickets of Doom.”

My understanding is that many of those dedicated volunteers and campaign staff were rewarded for their efforts with purple Inauguration tickets. The true believers came from across the country, put airline tickets on our credit cards, slept on people’s floors, woke up at 4 a.m. to get to the Inauguration… only to find that we were to be parked in an underground tunnel under DC waiting to be let in, and then were turned away at the gates. As one African-American man said on his cell phone to his kids: “I came all the way to DC and didn’t see shit but some tunnel.”

[…]

However, once we got to our purple ticket entrance, the day spun out of control. We arrived and there was little information about where to stand. People were packed to the gills. Those closer to the front of the line explained where the back was. The sight was staggering, we walked the length of the 3rd Street tunnel, that was packed with people as far as the eye could see. My initial thought was “where are the Porta Potties?” There was not one the entire length of the line of thousands of people.

Afrocity responds:

Sounds like these Obots were given bogus “Wonka bars”

OOOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPA DEE DOO
I’VE GOT ANOTHER PUZZLE FOR YOU
OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADAH DEE
IF YOU ARE WISE YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME

What happens when you vote for a misogynist FAKE?
Who burned Hillary and Sarah at the stake.
You cry when he does the same to you
You deserve what get for eating Obama poo

Your meaningless little purple passes
got you nothing for kissing the Obamas’ asses

OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DAH
DON’T DRINK KOOL AID THEN YOU WILL GO FAR.
OBAMABOTS ARE DUMBER THAN POO
OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DO

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