I can hear the voices in your head. They don't like you.
Quake devastates Haiti, many casualties feared
A powerful earthquake struck Haiti’s capital on Tuesday with withering force, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. The dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished Caribbean country.Associated Press journalists based in Port-au-Prince said the damage from the quake — the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years — is staggering even in a country accustomed to tragedy and disaster.
Tom Campbell to drop out of governor’s race, run for U.S. Senate
Former Silicon Valley congressman Tom Campbell will announce Thursday that he’s dropping out of the California governor’s race to run for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, a move that will upend both races and reverberate across the Golden State’s political landscape.With Campbell out of the GOP gubernatorial primary, former eBay chief Meg Whitman and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a former valley entrepreneur, will now go head-to-head in a race that is bound to turn into a multimillion-dollar spitball fight. Both have already contributed roughly $19 million to their campaign coffers, dwarfing Campbell’s $1 million in donations.
In the Republican Senate primary, Campbell will face former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, also perceived as a moderate, and conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine. The winner will face Boxer, who was first elected in 1992.
The winner between Whitman and Poizner will likely be facing Jerry Brown in November.
Divorce Rates Higher in States with Gay Marriage Bans
Over the past decade or so, divorce has gradually become more uncommon in the United States. Since 2003, however, the decline in divorce rates has been largely confined to states which have not passed a state constitutional ban on gay marriage. These states saw their divorce rates decrease by an average of 8 percent between 2003 and 2008. States which had passed a same-sex marriage ban as of January 1, 2008, however, saw their divorce rates rise by about 1 percent over the same period.
Google does an about-face on China policy
In a surprise announcement late Tuesday, Google Inc. said it may turn its back on the huge Chinese market after a sophisticated cyber attack on the e-mail accounts of human rights advocates in the Asian nation.
Was an Iranian Nuclear Physicist Killed by His Own Government?
As Middle East intrigue goes, it doesn’t get much stranger than this: at approximately 8 a.m. this morning, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a nuclear physics professor at Tehran University, was killed by a bomb outside his home in a quiet northern suburb of Tehran. This may not have seemed that odd if it had taken place in Baghdad or Kabul. But assassinations─particularly with a remote-control bomb hidden inside a motorcycle─are not common in Iran.
Obama wants $33 billion more for wars
Comes on top of record $708 billion request for next year
That Nobel committee must feel really stupid by now.
Mark McGwire owns up to steroid use
Retired baseball star Mark McGwire tearfully acknowledges that he used steroids during his career, including his famous 1998 home-run-record-setting season
There is a new “must read” book out there. It’s Bob Somerby’s How He Got There, the story of the 2000 election and how Bush reached the White House. The best part is it’s FREE!
Watch your back! Heileman and Halperin may write a book about you next.
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Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
From The Hill:
I saw this last night. Between Sharpton and Hannity and Coulter, it was a really effed up segment.
Eric Alterman on “Game Change”:
Why does he leave out Harry Reid?
From the Alterman link:
Huh? When did Obama bring his A-Game at the end of the primaries? He dragged himself to the finish line.
He was dragged across the finish line by the media and the DNC
The RBC cheating WAS his A-game.
And this is considered a real book and not simply an addendum to pre-existing campaign material?
From The Hill:
Well Al, Bill’s retired, his alleged accuser is dead and unlike Dirty Harry he hasn’t admitted anything. But even if he said it he most likely was referring to Obama’s lack of experience and not his skin color. IF he said it.
Reid, OTOH, currently holds one of the most powerful elected positions in the country.
I guess Sharpton is not part of FDL’s self-described “large, affluent, educated audience of opinion makers and engaged community leaders.”
Jane Hamsher says Clinton is the one pushing healthcare reform.
Don’t let up, Wonk. “large, affluent, educated audience………” 🙂
Willie Brown said that Bill Clinton doesn’t have a ra*cist bone in his body. Sharpton is a total self-serving jerk and political hack,
I don’t need Brown to tell me that! I am sick of these self-serving jerks. Sharpton needs to go away.
Something that got short shrift during the primary
campaign was Sharpton’s ‘conversion’ from
attacking Obama to embracing him after Sharpton
paid $1 million toward his tax debt, and federal
prosecutors dropped all charges.
SHARPTON RAPS OBAMA
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_ABEkBl8IKNQxbKvqaM67CO
Al sharpton won’t face charges for tax evasion?
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/al-sharpton-wont-face-charges-for-tax-evasion/question-120786/?page=2
hey callin reid dirty harry gives dirty harry aka inspector callahan
a bad name .
well one this one i got side with hanniy & when it comesn to sharpton it seems that preety mucj everthing is racist depending
on why you are
What a disturbing bunch of people!
Still, I had one “atta girl” moment when Coulter stopped Sharpton from interrupting her with an “A! Stop that”. I was reminded of the advice of Victoria Stillwell in “It’s me or the Dog” about the importance of the tone of voice.
Good Gawd. I’m so depressed – but still willing to fight.
why why why why why must they continue to try and burn the Clintons at the stake???
Never mind. I already know the answer.
I think the MSM’s obsession with the private married life of two people in their sixties says a lot about the MSM.
I haven’t watched one second of this nonsense on TV. Did it cover the Obamas as well? WE certainly know some of the nasty things going on behind the scenes. Any talk of that leaked memo proving they were playing the race card? No, I didn’t think so.
The media says the Obamas come out well in this book, nothing scandalous, so clearly there’s nothing about the memo.
or if there is anything about it, H&H managed to portray it in a positive light.
Hmmmm….I wonder why Al didn’t say anything when Hillary said all Obama ever did was serve tea and cookies to diplomat’s wives.
Oh…wait.
I seriously doubt that the allegations against Bill or Hillary will change any minds. The only people who will give the stories any credence already hate the Clintons anyway.
I don’t get the point of the hatchet job on EE – even if everything they say in the book about her is true, why kick her when she’s down?
If the part about EE cutting Axelrod down to size when he was working on her husband’s campaign is true…then as we have seen from the history of Obama’s political career–from Alice Palmer to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin–there is no tactic or smear job that is too petty or misogynist to use in the interests of knocking out opponents, distracting, making money, or otherwise benefitting from.
Obama had some pages in his book about Alan Keyes. -This is someone who derives a lot of enjoyment from crowing over defeated enemies. Not unlike W playing with Saddam’s pistol.
These tools – who wrote and especially those who fed this piece of trash, had Obama’s OK – I am dead sure.
Who’s to say that the Edwards staffer who bashes Elisabeth is not Axelrod himself? And I saw a link somewhere where Jonathan Alter says he heard the “bringing coffee” story too. That would be the same Alter who had stock in the Enquirer and tried to stop them from printing the – verified – story on Edwards, right?
IMO the point is fear, fear of the Clinton Base of the former Dem Party which has gain power and judge all of these clowns as worthless
I had some respect for Al in days gone by. No more. That man is poison. I knew all about the Coulter, but expected better from Al. They’re all going down these days. I have no more forgiveness to dole out. Fools abound. I’m just sitting on the sidelines and laughing at their dumb asses. Ha ha. What a bunch of jokes. They have lost all credibility with me.
I lost respect for Rev. Al during the Tawana Brawley wankfest.
I still can’t believe he had a career after that debacle. He almost destroyed a falsely accused police officer with his lies.
I gave Sharpton – in spite of Brawley and other wacky stuff – a moment of credibility during the 2000 theft – he can be eloquent and for once he was on the right side of things. Then he run in 2004 mostly to spoil things – GOP Roger Stone financed his campaigning in SC for the express purpose of taking Wes Clark out of the campaign. And then he waved the race card in NYC mayoral 2001, thus getting us the GOP marvel that is Bloomberg. There’s hardly room for him to go lower after all this.
Some tabloid fun to round the news
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/tabloids-and-then-theres-ny-post/
Al provided a welcome presence in the droning, predictable debates of 2004 imho. He prodded the lackluster Dems to address uncomfortable questions – and I valued his presence. Now he either needs to get with it or go away.
i think part of the reason that they are trashing the clintons is that they know they are falling fast and getting ready to crash and burn . and the want to take the clintons with them
I think you are partly right. This is a Hail Mary pass. One last ditch effort with tried and true CDS.
Halperin, Heilemann, Politico, Schmidt, Ben Smith Solis Doyle…like the OB bots are dumb enough to think that anyone other than the fan Base believes their attempts to rewrite the history on their obvious failure as campaign political pundits and operatives ….
Tip for H-H: In an attempt or hope to possibly appear creditable to the uninformed you need not to foam and spit when spouting your frenzied, vicious, sleazy lies against the women in the book
, …..good news is women can send a thank you to Harry Reid for his now exposed, well advertised
personal involvement in the book, adding credibility to the assumption that this book is a Dem Leadership hit job on Clinton and Palin…..
……..proof also IMO that we as a collective group are feared and have the power to elect the next President purging Reid and his boyz club, Dodd’s not enough the rest must go. Women are the largest demographic, still, they (Dems)obviously know it we need to use our power.
Tip to Media diversify before you become totally irrelevant if you have not already…
Harold Ford not showing much integrity.
@ggreenwald: Boasting of pedicures, chauffeurs, helicopters, & the sanctity of Wall St. bonuses is a great, timely political strategy. http://is.gd/6bM8S
Old Weird Harold couldn’t win in 2006 when Democrats were kicking ass and taking names all over the country.
So now that the GOP appears on the rebound (thanks, Obama) what the hell makes him think he can win this time?
Maybe that’s just it. He couldn’t win when the Democratic brand was in vogue.
I’m a bit worried that he’s going to use the Obama/Axelrod method.
Sexist attacks, r@ce card, disqualifying voters, etc.
Does NY do a caucus or is it all by ballot?
Ballot. He is positioning himself as the anti-Dem. He proudly declares himself a “capitalist,” and wants to help his Wall St. cronies make more money (for the good of NY of course…). His “audacity” for lying about his his record is breathtaking. Staunchly pro-life in the past, this is pathetic excuse for his previous expressions of support for that position:
Explaining the previous remarks, he said he refused to cede “the language of life” to the political right. When he campaigned in Tennessee, he said he used the phrase “pro-life” more broadly to highlight what he saw as the hypocrisy of Republican policies that denied benefits to returning war veterans, or equal pay to National Guardsmen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/nyregion/13ford.html?ref=nyregion
So now that the GOP appears on the rebound (thanks, Obama) what the hell makes him think he can win this time?
He only has to win the primary, and downstate NY is made up of disproportionately liberal voters. Not that he is liberal–far from it–but he is being backed by Sulzberger (who has a vendetta for the Caroline incident), Pinch’s pal & hedge-fund glutton Steve Rattner; and Rattner’s biggest client (he manages his money) Bloomberg. The Times and he downstate media have been relentlessly negative about Gillibrand from the start due to their perceived snub as a feifdom with her appointment. They have weakened her because of it–spreading distortions and exaggerations about her House record. She’s working her a*s off, but the original impressions they created are hard to shake. Now, they think they have found their own puppet in Ford, who only registered to vote in NY a few weeks ago?! He hasn’t even visited all the borrows yet–except to let his helicopter touch down in certain places. It would be a joke, except that we have seen this play before, and a telegenic, good-looking phony with big money backing can go pretty far…
Funny thing about unintended consequences: by including Reid in the gabfest, the media whores seriously undercut themselves as Reid – at least this month is irreplaceable.
I saw the shills in B0botland pushing for people to not buy the book/not lend credence to anything in it.
Had this came out after the HCR was jammed through, you might have seen photos of Obama with it under his arm, like W used to.
Help! I am in moderation and I can’t get up!
Next stop, negative numbers:
Bushe needed Iraq and Katrina to drop that far.
BO — breaking W’s records at breathtaking speed.
Gallup is boasting that Obama’s approval numbers on terrorism is up to 49%
CBS had a higher rating also on this item but they described it as Partisan number, self identifying Dems at 75 percent that punched up the overall…Independents were 42 I believe and of course Republicans much lower
That first question had him in the negative per CNN poll – 47/48
OMG hysterical in People suppossedly
Obama, Axelrove are going to try the Unity Pony We are the good guy’s the Party of No are the bad guys …again seriously
….”That’s what’s been lost this year … that whole sense of changing how Washington works,” Obama said in an interview with People magazine.
The president said his second-year agenda will be refocused on uniting the country around common values, “whether we’re Democrats or Republicans.”
Being the “Party of No” doesn’t seem to be hurting the GOPers.
”That’s what’s been lost this year … that whole sense of changing how Washington works,”
Hahahahahaha!!! And whose fault would that be?
He’ so good at not pointing fingers .. at himself!
Does it mean I have to call myself a PUMA again??? 😉
National Unity My Ass!
Numa
More on the People Magazine interview. He keeps mentioning pride in his accomplishments. It’s not about his pride. It’s about the people. Maybe someday he can learn that. Still, it’s a necessary statement and message imo, long overdue. He obviously thinks he needs People Magazine to speak to the nation’s real people.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/obama-on-his-first-year-americans-have-every-right-to-feel-deflated.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
No you are right, it is actually becoming a positive …proof Brown’s photo spread in Cosmo, while impressive, it wasn’t that good and he is much older now
Haiti Earthquake ITN news
Has any one read this WaPo article about the new voice of TOTUS Ben Rhodes? Evidently, people were complaining all the Obama speeches were sounding too much like an ongoing political campaign so now he’s doing the speeches so Obama has the appearance of more policy gravitas … interesting development …
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011103758_5.html?hpid=sec-politics
World rescue efforts in Haiti
The devastation maybe over 100,000 dead in Haiti as the Haitian P.M. speaks to CNN live. The rescue efforts have been hampered due to the fact that many of the First Responders are among those affected by the earthquake. This country is in dire need of assistance and hopefully they get it soon.
Here’s a great question:
Does Harold Ford Think The LGBT Community Is Stupid?
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/01/does-harold-ford-think-the-lgbt-community-is-stupid.html#more
They supported Obama after he campaigned with Donnie McClurkin, didn’t they?
yeah, unfortunately the koolaid gave every one amnesia