According to its ethics code, NPR still has a Fox News problem | Media Matters for America

FOX IN THE HEN HOUSE
National Public Radio operates under a wide-ranging ethics code that leaves little doubt about how its journalists should conduct themselves. This ethics code, written "to protect the credibility of NPR's programming by ensuring high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality and staff conduct." And yet still, NPR finds itself struggling with the evergreen controversy that surrounds two of its well-known voices who regularly appear as commentators on Fox News, an organization that makes a mockery of ethical standards, a cable outlet whose employees would be summarily fired from NPR for the seemingly countless and chronic journalism transgressions they make.
(MEDIA MATTERS, suggested by ALTERNET)

Best Coquito in New York Is Named - NYTimes.com

TRADITION
Coquito is a very important tradition in the Puerto Rican community. Everyone has their own recipe. And behind every recipe there’s always a grandmother or an aunt or an old town. The drink is usually made with coconut and rum, along with nutmeg, cinnamon and various secret ingredients, sometimes egg yolks, sometimes condensed milk. It can be thick and creamy, light and spicy, boozy, mellow, sweet or tangy.
(NYT)

HERE'S OURS:

1 can coco lopez

1 can condensed milk

2 cans evaporated milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2-3/4 litre white rum

6 egg yolks

cup sugar

RIGHT FACE!
While the John Birch Society was not too long ago considered far too ridiculous for the American mainstream (even Republicans considered them a political pariah), as conservatives have become more extreme, this fringe group has slowly worked itself back into the fold. So much so that this year JBS will co-sponsor the Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C.
(ALTERNET)

Donate SkyMiles with Delta's SkyWish program at delta.com

HOLIDAY IDEA
This seems like an absolutely painless and wonderful way to make a charitable donation. Skywish Charity takes those unused Skymiles of yours and lets you donate them to any of 14 organizations. I just donated mine to the American Cancer Society and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. But you can opt for CARE, Canine Assistants, Habitat for Humanity International, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and more.

DUMB BLOND JOKE
If you want to see a hilarious take down of Fox News and Gretchen Carlson, watch this analysis by Jon Stewart, who tells her not to store her intellect in an off-shore account.

ANOTHER WORLD
I got these Demotix photos showing "Karachi's eunuchs" holding a candlelit vigil on World AIDS. Eunuchs? Really? Now?

Well....

If the Supreme Court of Pakistan's (SCP) decision to give eunuchs seats in the Parliament comes into effect, the eunuchs are all set to draft a resolution against the Sindh police and City District Government Karachi (CDGK) officials for their brutal behaviour against the eunuchs. MORE

I know some people who think that eunuchs are God’s chosen favourites and one should not be rude to them. But while I can understand that some enuchs are born that way and deserve to be pitied, I think most hijras today have either got themselves castrated or have been forcibly castrated to earn money by begging. MORE

Unknown elements have launched a mysterious campaign against eunuchs since the last week, triggering anxiety among non-governmental organisations working for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. MORE

But, see:

For arguments sake, say you were one of the abductors in the aforementioned scenario, and the Madadgar 15 Police catch you with your pants down, along with your bored and ignorant friends, 3 eunuchs and some felonious t-shirts. One would expect you would have a nice, airtight excuse at the ready for just such an emergency. Surely you could'nt even hope to rely on the pathetic excuse for an excuse that is: “Oh Good Evening officer, me and my friends and my eunuchs are all on our way to NADRA”. MORE

Thanksgiving in Afghanistan | Demotix.com

GIVE THANKS
High in the mountains of Wardak Province, Army Officers of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division serve Thanksgiving Day dinner to their troops.
(DEMOTIX)

C215 - A Stencil Artist | Demotix.com

SEE 215
He does stencils on old doors, post boxes, and on concrete. Technically, he is doing something illegal which could be considered vandalism by the city or the law. But he has proven that art & beauty with good intentions can conquer preconceived notions of what is legal and illegal. He also creates all of his artworks during the day and does not feel he should hide it. He has been arrested on three occasions but always set free: Paris street artist C215 and his vibrant work.
(DEMOTIX)

THANKS, NO REALLY!
"It's like comics threw a curve ball, and now your nuts need some frozen peas" is the compliment heaved his way in a great review Zack just got at Comics of the Weak.
(Factual Opinion)

Minneapolis News - Michele Bachmann: Crazy like a fox - page 1

CRAZY LIKE A FOX
Michele Bachmann's modus operandi is a madcap Orwellian playground. That is to say that most everyone, even Republicans, realize that her rhetoric doesn't make sense. But maybe it's not supposed to.

THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW
(CITY PAGES)

What Makes a Young Person Embrace Death and Murder? Former Jihadists Speak Out | | AlterNet

IN THEIR HEADS
In the mosques across London one hears a fringe of young men talk dreamily of flocking to Afghanistan to "resist." Yet this whisper never has an immigrant accent. Beneath the beards and the burqas, there is an English voice. It shares British pronunciations, cultural references, and national anthem. Any attempt to dig into their psychology is always met with a resistant sneer, and opaque recitations from the Koran. Their message is simple: we don't do psychology or sociology. We do Allah. But a fragile new movement of former jihahists is revealing everything they learned on the inside.
(ALTERNET)

Counting the Costs of Health Care Reform | Online NewsHour | Nov. 10, 2009 | PBS

WHAT'S THE REAL DEAL? One of the things both sides can agree on is that rising health care costs need to be addressed. What, though, can we really expect from what is now being "debated" in Congress? A recent segment about what might be expected on News Hour brought two refreshingly forthright assessments. Obama's point man, Peter Orszag, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, avoided the usually overly rosy assessment and Gail Wilensky, a former Bush(I) administration administration official who currently chairs Congress' Medicare Payment Advisory Commission was especially candid.

HIM

HER

Dismal special election record hampers GOP's 2010 comeback - TheHill.com

THE "UGLY" PRIMARY
Some people say that the Republicans haven’t learned from their losses in three conservative districts. Even as it rebounds in other ways, the GOP could lose its fifth of five big special elections in two years. The blame goes to something insiders are calling the "ugly primary" where the losers refuse to back the party and fracture the vote. Others fear it just signals the battle between pragmatism and idealism that currently roils the Republicans.
(THE HILL)

FreeRice

REAL RICE
If you must virtual farm why not go to FreeRice, a non-profit website that is fun, has a little something in it for you, and just might do something for those really in need? The gist of the site is that it asks you vocabulary questions. The ones you miss keep sneaking back into the list so that eventually you learn it. For every correct answer the site's advertisers donate a grain of rice to the hungry. Admittedly, a grain of rice isn't much but every journey starts with the first step.
(Suggested by TOMMY BEALLE)

OUTFOXED
Some People Say that Fox has an agenda. The underlying premise of this 2004 film is that the network is really all about yellow journalism, politics and opinion masked as news. I report. You decide. (WARNING: This film is one-hour-plus, but well worth watching.)

YouTube - SAFER CANNABIS USE GUIDELINES

NOT YOUR PARENTS' PSA
REMEMBER: When you share joints, you can also share infections.
(Suggested by ALABAMA COMPASSIONATE CARE)

Meet the Senators in the Creepy Right-Wing Cult Trying to Defeat Health Care Reform | Politics | AlterNet

A FAMILY THAT PREYS TOGETHER
You may remember something called "The Family", some sort of religious shadow group whose name comes up from time to time in things like 60 Minutes. They are behind-the-scenes, but powerful, "players". A Protestant version of the Illuminati, but here. The people of South Carolina, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nevada, Kansas and Wyoming find themselves represented by at least one U.S. senator who belongs to "The Family".
(ALTERNET)

Obama Asked "Why Do People Hate You?" By Fourth Grader (VIDEO)

OUT OF MOUTHS OF BABES
At a town hall meeting in New Orleans Thursday a fourth-grader asked the question that has probably been on many people's minds as they witnessed the rage that has been directed at Obama these last few months: "Why do people hate you?" The young man seemed genuinely concerned, and he went on to tell Obama that "They supposed to love you." Obama responded by giving the young man a hug while saying, "That's what I'm talking about." Then came the hard part of actually answering his question.
(HUFFINGTON POST, suggested by SUSAN BLACK MCMASTERS)

A Nobel for Defeating Cheneyism - Rasmussen Reports™

GETTING DICK
Outraged babble and sanctimonious tut-tutting over Obama's Nobel Peace Prize will pour forth until the very evening he accepts the prize in Oslo, and then for years afterward. If the hotheads understood how Obama actually did earn the prize, in the minds not only of the Norwegians but presumably most of the world's inhabitants, their fury might reach nuclear levels.
(RASMUSSEN)

Video: Janet Napolitano Pt. 1 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

CNN: LEAVING IT THERE
FOX! This ain't about no stinking Fox. Here Jon Stewart excoriates CNN. Funny stuff.
(DAILY SHOW)

Zack Soto - illustration/comics/design - Blog

GHOST ATTACK
Ghost Attack, my son Zack's new mini comic will make it's debut this weekend at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. He's at booth 292.

Bedazzler - DIY non-lethal weaponry

BEDAZZLING!
After attending a conference where a $1 million "sea-sick flashlight" named the Dazzler was demonstrated by Homeland Security, these guys decided to create their own version, which they did, for under $250. This site teaches you how to build your own, along with links to the source code, schematics and other useful items. They've even added a "mode" selection so you can put it into some pretty color-swirl modes. Great for raves and parties! Now, where did I put my sucker.
(LADYADA)

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Analysis: Public Option Is Likely Popular in Most Blue Dog Districts

BLUE DOGS TIC
Polls of many "Blue Dog" districts have found that a plurality or majority of its constituents support the public plan.
(FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, suggested by CLINT BROWN)

WHAT HAS OBAMA DONE TO DESERVE THIS?
TO THE HATERS: What has Obama done to deserve your always negative reaction? As you note, he's only been in office ten months. He hasn't had time to dig us out of the hole you put us in. The man wins a prestigious award and all you do is act like it's a slight to you. It was like the celebrations that followed the news that we had lost the Olympic bid from folks who are usually AMERICA RIGHT OR WRONG jingoist "freedom"-thumpers.

I have to admit that the news that Obama won the Peace Prize caught me off guard. I thought it was a little precipitous and grandiose. But what is always surprising is the vitriol that spews from you guys. The chairman of the Republican Party OF OUR COUNTRY (not Iran's) doesn't congratulate the President for winning the Nobel. He criticizes the decision to award him the prize, conveniently forgetting that Obama has been viciously engaged in trying to UNDO what Steele's party has done to this country and the world. Don't get me wrong, it's a fair question. But it really sounds like hollow sour grapes and bullshit declase politics.

Here, two politicos try to answer the question.

If you're up to it listen to the round table with Brooks and Marcus on this same News Hour page. Marcus is the "left" view of things and she has some interesting reflections - as does Brooks - about giving the prize to Obama.
(NEWS HOUR)

LIBERAL VIEW

MARXIST VIEW

"MARXIST" VIEW

WHO IS IN YOUR POCKET?
Health Care for America NOW! has put together some interesting links associated with the three prime health insurance companies:

UNITED HEALTH

CIGNA

WELLPOINT/BLUE CROSS

ACORN? AGAIN?
I must just be in denial but it seems so patently unfair to me to target ACORN as a somehow subversive or criminal organization but categorize what happened across the country in the town hall meetings as merely the spontaneous narodnik expression of the people's will. In my day ACORN was chided for being way too mainstream and basically irrelevant. They were centered on reformist poverty issues as a form of empowerment for the poor and did not deal, we said, with the problems endemic to the system. That's all well and good, but how do you explain the fact that they keep coming back up as a news item? Well, if you believe folks like Rachel Maddow it seems that ACORN hasn't just "appeared" on the radar but has been the focus of a long running purposeful vendetta. Well, wait, though, don't just listen to the pinko commie, let's hear what David Iglesias has to say about it. Iglesias is the former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico who was purportedly fired for refusing to prosecute ACORN for voter fraud.

ANOTHER LINK

AND ANOTHER
(MSNBC)

AND YET ANOTHER, BUT FROM A DIFFERENT SOURCE AND WRITTEN YESTERYEAR

YES, MORE

Wall Street's Near-Meltdown Gave Rise to New Lies About the Economy, All Designed to Blame Anyone But Those Responsible | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

PASSING THE BUCK
If the economic meltdown was caused by a bunch of poor people who bought McMansions we could have solved it much more cheaply in a couple of days in late 2008 by simply providing borrowers with additional capital to reduce their loan principals. It would have cost about 3 percent of what the entire bailout wound up costing with comparatively similar risk.
(ALTERNET)

Mayoral candidates lobby for gay vote | ajc.com

GAY POWER
Within hours of an Atlanta police raid of a popular gay Midtown bar this month,all four leading mayoral candidates had sent statements urging city officials to conduct an investigation into a raid at the Atlanta Eagle and punish any police officers found to have violated the bar patrons’ civil rights. Another candidate went to a rally at the bar the following Sunday to protest what demonstrators argue was police misconduct.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION)

YES. NUTS!
Even in a media world where 24 hours of daily cable blather is so rarely tethered to the real-world concerns of Americans, the ACORN saga stands out as a story that everyone is talking about but no one is stepping back to even try and comprehend or place into any kind of rational perspective. The conservative dwellers of Glennbeckistan who've been flooding newsrooms across America with calls complaining that the press is not covering the ACORN story know next to nothing about the anti-poverty group other than their belief that it single-handedly elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States and that it receives billions of dollars in taxpayer money.
(HUFFINGTON POST)

SEE ALSO

The Lie Machine : Rolling Stone

THE BIG LIE MACHINE
The insurance industry is using the same tactics to kill reform that it has used for many years. Top Republicans are working hand-in-glove with them and with the organizers of the town brawls. It's part of the larger agenda of bankrupting Obama's political capital before he could move on to other key items on his agenda.
(ROLLING STONE)

YouTube - Senator Sanders Unfiltered: US Congress Bought & Paid For?

COMRADE BERNIE
So, what does the only self-avowed Congressional Socialist really say?
(BRAVE NEW FILMS)

Obama's Nuclear Victory - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

PUSHING POPULARITY WITH PURPOSE
Obama is using his personal appeal, the uniqueness of his presidency, to push forward a transformational agenda on the global stage. This is popularity with purpose and was evident at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday as senior international diplomats scrambled like sports fans to get a handshake and a photo with him.
(DAILY BEAST)

YouTube - Health Care Reform Thought Bubble

HEALTH CARE 101
Here's a little YouTube video on the health care debate that is quite clean and instructive.
(THOUGHT BUBBLE, suggested by SCOTT SOUTULLO)

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCED
Good friend Jean Peelen (along with her co-authors Renee Fisher and Joyce Kramer) has written Saving the Best for Last: Creating Our Lives After 50. A look into the very real experiences of aging and reinvention. The authors speak candidly about sexuality, dating and mating, money, faith and spirituality, mothers, loss, and friendship - all within the context of aging as a beginning not the end. Available online on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Books-A-Million, or best of all, in Mobile at Gallery 54 from Leila Hollowell!

The Racist Truth About Beck and Limbaugh - Rasmussen Reports™

AMEN, BROTHER GLENN
Since Beck and Limbaugh seem to be obsessed with the touchy subject of racism, let's examine their record. It turns out that both established their keen racial sensitivity on air long ago.
(RASMUSSEN REPORTS)

The Anonymous Liberal

THAT'S NUTS 2
The current hysteria over ACORN is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with the general state of our political discourse. Let's consider just what ACORN is. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and improve the lives of poor people. As with many other organizations, ACORN has a number of legally distinct parts, each of which has different sources of funding and engages in different kinds of activities. ACORN's enemies routinely conflate these various parts to imply that ACORN is using federal money for improper political purposes.
(ANONYMOUS LIBERAL, suggested by GLENN GREENWALD)

HERE'S ANOTHER PIECE ON ACORN

AND ANOTHER

Op-Ed Columnist - Even Glenn Beck Is Right Twice a Day - NYTimes.com

PRAISE GLENN
Glenn Beck has notoriously defamed Obama as a "racist," but the race card is just one in his deck. His ideology, if it can be called that, mixes idolatrous Ayn Rand libertarianism with bumper-sticker slogans about "freedom," self-help homilies and lunatic conspiracy theories. It’s the same crazy-quilt cosmology that could be found in last weekend’s Washington protest, where the marchers variously called Obama a fascist, a communist and a socialist, likening him to Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Pol Pot. They may not know that some of these libels are mutually exclusive. But what they do know is that they need a scapegoat for what ails them, and there is no one handier than a liberal, all-powerful president (who just happens to be black).
(NYT)

ANOTHER STORY ON BECK

AND ANOTHER ONE

Finally: For the First Time, the U.S. Census Bureau Releases Data on Same-Sex Couples | PEEK | AlterNet

SURVEY RESULTS UNSHEATHED
The Census Bureau has released estimates from the annual American Community Survey (ACS) of same-sex couples who identifed as married spouses in 2008. (Although the Census Bureau has been keeping track of same-sex marriages since 2000, the Bush administration refused to release the data, citing the federal ban on marriage equality.) Nearly 150,000 people said they had a same-sex spouse, and approximately 415,00 identified as "unmarried partners".
(ALTERNET)

Lawmakers regrouping to seek bipartisan healthcare deal - TheHill.com

POWER VACUUM
The balance of power in the healthcare debate is shifting as the Senate Finance Committee began marking up legislation this week that Democrats once hoped would serve as a vehicle for bipartisanship. But so far that bill has alienated both liberals and conservatives, leaving an opening for others to step in.
(THE HILL)

Canada and France Also Have Health Care Debates - Rasmussen Reports™

SOCIALIZED INSURANCE?
The debate over what kind of health care system we should have often includes the kinds others have. The programs in Canada and France have received special attention, and so those countries' efforts to fix their own programs should be of interest.
(RASMUSSEN REPORTS)

Dobbs Plays the Victim, as Movement Demanding CNN Dump Him Grows | | AlterNet

DON'T CRY FOR LOU
The recent flareups against the hate-mongers like Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck has them hiding behind the first amendment, claiming - like Dobbs did recently - that a fear of competing in the marketplace of ideas and facts drives the boycotts against them. The dunderheads have a right to their opinions but there's nothing in the Constitution that says they deserve news platforms to disseminate hurtful and dangerous myths. Just as they are free to gin up hateful sentiments, we are free to educate our communities, call out their patterns of fear mongering and faulty reporting and put economic pressure on their advertisers.
(ALTERNET)

Bill Moyers: Conservative Radicals and the Politics of Vengeance | Media and Technology | AlterNet

RIGHT'S LAST GASP?
The rising tide of populist resistance to Obama, the anger over the massive government bailout of Wall Street and big failed corporations, have raised Republican hopes for a comeback. It has Democrats scratching their head wondering how to respond.So, How can this in any way be seen as the "last gasps of the conservative movement"?
(ALTERNET)

15 Most Corrupt Members of Congress | CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

ROTTEN APPLES?
The latest report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) names 15 members of Congress to its Most Corrupt Members of Congress list, down from 24 last year. However, eight members from 2008 are no longer in office, and seven others were left off the list either because no action was taken against them by congressional or law enforcement bodies, or no new charges arose.
(CREW)

Industry Chat: Leslie Fram, Program Director WRXP - New York City - "We underestimated the audience." :: Features Music Music & Industry :: Articles :: Paste

ROCKIN' NEW YORK
Remember when WABB-FM came on the air and rocked Mobile with their new AOR format? Well one of the pioneer jocks was a Fairhope lady, Leslie Fram. She went on to Atlanta and then to NYC where she has continued to make "waves". Here's an interview with her.
(PASTE, suggested by LEE ANN WATERSS CAMP)

MOVING ON BEYOND THE RACE ISSUE
While the "real" Joe Wilson may be fodder for debate, here's a reasoned and civil debate about the race issue in general.
(NEWS HOUR)

Joe Wilson's Dixie Partisans - Rasmussen Reports™

JOE AND HIS HOMIES
It is not accidental that Joe Wilson is a client of the Quinn firm. Richard Quinn, has been a central figure in both South Carolina Republican politics and the 'neo-Confederate' movement, notably as editor and publisher of a periodical called The Southern Partisan. Wilson is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, once a relatively harmless organization of nostalgic Southerners that has been transformed into a virulently racist outfit in recent years.
(RASMUSSEN REPORTS)

The Joe Wilson Story (cont.) - The Hill's Pundits Blog

LET'S MOVE ON
There is a racial element to the Joe Wilson incident, as there is in almost everything in American life. That Wilson is from South Carolina and that Barack Obama is African-American; that Clyburn is a civil-rights warrior and that Wilson is a former Strom Thurmond aide — it all makes it easy to turn this into another racial battle.

PS:

HERE'S THE OFFENDING MAUREEN DOWD PIECE

AND A CRITIQUE OF IT

(THE HILL, suggested by SIXTO MENDEZ)

Today's Best Cartoons

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
(Suggested by Chris Hatch)

21 Million Watch President's Address to Congress on Big Three - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

DANCING BACKWARDS, BUT NOT IN HIGH HEELS
The "numbers" for last night's address to congress are out. Over 21 million folks watched, with the distribution amongst the three major networks at just about even. FOX, the only broadcaster not to carry the speech, drew 6.5M Total Viewers for the premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance?". Enough said.
(MEDIA BISTRO)

'Medi-scare:' Senior-alert from GOP: The Swamp

FOR HALLOWEEN
In political circles, there is a term for the tactic that the Republican National Committee is deploying with a new run of national cable ads and TV ads airing in Florida: "Medi-scare".
(THE SWAMP, suggested by WEST VIRGINIA BLUE)

Orlandoweekly.com - Bloggytown

SOMETHING TO BOO ABOUT
The Orlando Weekly has taken one of its brethren to task for publishing an opinion piece called "The health-care debate deserves an honest forum" under the auspices of its "New Voices" demographic olive branch: "a forum for readers under 30." ...The problem with the piece was that it didn't really appear out of the thin air of youthful concern, but rather out of the the typing fingers of a known Republican operative. Now, that's something to boo about.
(THE ORLANDO WEEKLY, suggested by ALTERNET)

Rachel Maddow:Fighting off the fringe

THEY'RE JUST SAYING
Right-wingers practicing what the Maoists call "criticism/self-criticism"? Well, maybe not. But last night's Rachel Maddow featured a courageous journey into what Che would have called "the belly of the beast" by Jonathan Henke of the conservative blog TheNextRight. Rachel was discussing Henke's "forcebul pushback", against the right's lunatic fringe, what he calls "the fevered swamps". He was there to decry what he fears is the destruction of the "intellectual foundations of the right" by those who "traffic in the paranoid conspiracy theories" and "take away from our abilities to discuss important issues". Sound familiar?

HERE'S THE OFFENDING ORIGINAL STORY BY HENKE

AND HERE'S THE FOLLOW-UP PIECE

(MSNBC)

YouTube - Rammer Jammer-(Give em Hell Alabama) Rap w/some lyrics

YO! ALABAMA!
Here is the Alabama Fight Song as a rap song. This is really good, even if you don't like the genre or (how could you!?!)the school.
(Suggested by JORENE SMITH)

TWO VIEWS ON PUBLIC OPTION
The News Hour has been doing a pretty credible job of exploring the issues. Here are two reports they recently did on the public option:

PRO:

Jacob Hacker of Yale University, one of the key proponents of a public insurance option.

CON:

Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive and skeptic of a public insurance option.

CREW URGES MSNBC TO PULL MISLEADING AND DELUSIONAL HEALTH CARE AD | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

PULLING THE PLUG
Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has sent a letter to MSNBC urging the network to pull a US Citizens Association-sponsored ad from the air claiming that it was misleading, delusional, and violated Federal Communications Commission and NBC regulations addressing false and misleading ads.
(CREW)

t r u t h o u t | Don't Get Sick!

WHAT THEY SAY UP NORTH
In 2004, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation conducted a poll to determine whom Canadians thought was the greatest Canadian of all time. It was Keifer Sutherland's grandfather, Tommy Douglas, who is credited with making sure that Canadians would have universal, government-funded health care. When Canadians are periodically polled and asked what they are most proud of, in addition to peacekeeping, it is their national health care system.

SEE ALSO
(TRUTHOUT, suggested by WEST VIRGINIA BLUE)

Army used profiles to reject reporters | Stars and Stripes

MILITARY USED PROFILES TO MONITOR REPORTERS
The secret profiles commissioned by the Pentagon to rate the work of journalists reporting from Afghanistan were used by military officials to deny disfavored reporters access to American fighting units or otherwise influence their coverage as recently as 2008, Stars and Stripes reports.
(STARS AND STRIPES, suggested by FREE PRESS MEDIA REFORM DAILY)

HORROR STORIES
We've been going at it back and forth on FaceBook about health care. Here's a response by a local lawyer that I thought was especially poignant:

"I will tell you what concrete thing Senator Kennedy did. He saved my daughter Jessica's life. She was 23, had just graduated college two years ago, has a degree but no job and no health insurance. She was diagnosed with a virulent and rare cancer that was virtually fatal. Thanks to Medicaid and the National Cancer Center (the legislation for creating and funding both were driven through Congress by Teddy), my daughter's $500k treatment saved her life. Ted Kennedy saved my daughter. Plain and simple. He created and implemented federal, public health care plans that were the only reason my daughter got treatment. Before she was approved the hospitals coldly sent her away to die -- literally would not look at her and she was dying right in front of them at 23. So, all you who are ignorant about what Teddy did, I am here to tell you. One day it will be your child. One day the doctors will tell you they are sending her home to die because there is no insurance. Then you'll know..."

LET'S OWN IT
When it comes to rights, the Right is, well, wrong. With all due respects to George Santayana those who don't learn from history are doomed to keep acting like the GOP. Look at health care. Having managed to successfully bottle up a debate about a serious economic problem that even they themselves agree needs to be debated, they taunt us by saying that "If it's so great, pass it and own it." I agree. Civil Rights? We own it. Worker's rights? We own it. Immigration reform? We own it. Handicapped Rights. Gay Rights, Women's Rights, etc. We own it all. Proudly. Move forward. Let them keep trying to catch up. What's the definition of insanity, again?

Facebook | Videos Posted by Davucci Peckham: Very funny but true how facebook been messing up relationships

WALK AWAY FROM THE MONITOR!
Don't let FaceBook ruin your life.
(Suggested by Jean Peelen)

Wright on Health: Americans Don't Believe Congress Should Be Exempt From Health Care Reform

FOR GOOSE AND GANDER
"If this health reform is so great, why is Congress exempt from it?" That question has had a bit of resonance for me. Last week I happened on an interview of Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York on, of all things, Joe Scarborough. (Posted below) I wrote to Weiner congratulating him on his presentation but also taking him to task for having, I thought, cavalierly glossed over that point.

Here, at last, someone takes the time to answer it:

The coverage isn't unique to Congress. Congress participates in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), along with 2.7 other federal employees.

The FEHBP is a form of managed competition--a way to make sure that private insurers compete on the basis of price and quality through regulation--an idea that was the center piece of the proposed Clinton reform, and that is essentially what is being proposed now in the form of the public option and the insurance exchange.

It's not free. The FEHBP works just like any other employer-based coverage: the employer and the employee both pay a portion of the costs.
(Health Policy Analysis, suggested by TOMMY BEALLE)

WHO NEEDS COPS?
I don't disagree with the criticisms of insurance companies. But rather than vilify an entire industry maybe we should recognize that there are things that are endemic to it and that oversight is necessary. Who needs cops? We do. I've encountered cops in Mexico, Cuba, Finland, Russia, China, France, Spain, Portugal, Honduras, and, of course, here and in Puerto Rico. Cops - regardless of what political system they operate in - are by the very nature of their work, authoritarian. The difference in the really horrible encounters I've had in the States and in other countries - especially a very nightmarish scene in Cuba - is that where there is oversight and regulation, and, if necessary, sanctions, bad behavior is less likely to happen. That's the same thing with the insurance industry. They're supposed to be making money! That's not necessarily a bad thing. But where inefficiency or greed can be corrected, then they need to be policed.

Former Palms KFC Now Serving Weed, Not Wings - KNBC-TV- msnbc.com

SPECIAL HERBS AND SPICES
If you have a hankering for some Original Recipe chicken with its 11 herbs and spices while you're in California, make sure you pull into a real Kentucky Fried Chicken store. Because if you stumble into this KFC, you’ll find a different kind of herb altogether – the kind you need a prescription to buy.
(MSNBC, suggested by ERIC KREMER)

DOGS GUARD THE BACON
The Democratic Party’s Blue Dog political-action committee was receiving more than half of its $1.1 million in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical, health care and health insurance industries, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The amount outstrips contributions to other congressional political-action committees during the same period, the watchdog group said.
(Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, suggested by TRUTHOUT)

SEE ALSO

Online NewsHour: Recent Programs | PBS

FACTS, FICTION, FRICTION
Rather than "debate" someone who is dead set upon not listening, I have been putting things out there that actually seem to address the issue, even including things that I don't think are necessarily helpful to "my" side but which seem to bear discussion. If someone wants to bother to read them, great. Otherwise, well, otherwise. This segment from last night's News Hour is yet another effort to parse out the truth in the health care debate.
(PBS)

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Some of my, err, well let us call them "less progressive" friends, are passing this around as some sort of put down. But any time you can be "accused" of being for Hope and having accomplished what he did, well all I can say is sign me up as a fellow traveler.

Rush Limbaugh Warns Jay-Z Obama Is Going After His Penis | PEEK | AlterNet

SPEAKING FROM HIS HEAD
Rush Limbaugh:

It is President Obama who wants mandated circumcision. We had that yesterday. That means if we need to save our penises from anybody, it's Obama. I did not know I was on anybody's balls.
(ALTERNET)

CQ Politics | House Race Ratings Map for 2010

FIRST POLLS
Most of the 435 congressional districts have well-entrenched incumbents. CQ Politics has preliminarily identified 100 districts, 59 of which are held by Democrats, where the contests should be highly or mildly competitive. Of these, CQ Politics rates three districts, all now held by Republicans, as leaning toward takeover by the challenging party.
(CQ POLITICS)

HEY MR TAMBORINE MAN, SHOW ME YOUR ID
"What is your name, sir?" the officer asked.

"Bob Dylan," he said.

"OK, what are you doing here?" the officer asked.

"I'm on tour," the singer replied.

A second backup officer arrived and the officers escorted the singer to the precinct when he couldn't produce an ID.

Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.

The officers thanked him for his cooperation.
(ACCESSATLANTA, suggested by BEHIND THE LINES)

The GOP Has Become a Party of Nihilists - TIME

JUST SAYIN', NO
The conservatives who make their arguments based on facts have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal. The philosophically supple party that existed as recently as George H.W. Bush's presidency has been obliterated. The party's putative intellectuals are prosaic tacticians who make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obama's political prospects.
(TIME)

Joe Scarborough Is Shocked, Yet Awed by Single-Payer Logic

OH NO! SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE, II
Okay, what the hell is going on here? First, there was this Morning Joe SEGMENT, with a New York Congressman.

CHECK OUT ALSO THIS SEGMENT

And, then, there's THIS STORY about Lou Dobbs' nation-a-night health care series.

Online NewsHour: The Healthcare Debate leading up to Clinton's Healthcare Address to Congress

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
"August 9, 1992 - Clinton is warned by campaign aides that his 'position on health care is too unstructured' and too unclear to be easily defended."
(PBS)

Fox turns on formerly "very influential" AMA after it backs Dem health plan | Media Matters for America

SO WHAT ARE THEY?
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said, "President Obama likes to point out that the American Medical Association, or AMA, supports the Democrats' health care reform bill ... it turns out that this group only represents about 20 percent of practicing doctors." Yet when the AMA was critical of Democratic support for the public option in early June, Fox News anchors -- including Kelly -- characterized the AMA as "very influential," called it "the nation's largest doctors' group" and claimed that it "represents most of the doctors in this country."
(MEDIA MATTERS)

The Health Insurance Racket Is Manufacturing Entertainment Value of Snuffing Out Grandma | Health and Wellness | AlterNet

KILLING HOPE
The slaughter of the innocents by the health care lobby has pretty much extinguished the political usefulness of the word hope. Nobody, especially Obama, uses it now.
(ALTERNET)

RED MEDS
The U.S. health care system performs poorly in comparison to other industrialized countries and still leaves 45.7 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered. Private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit payer would save more than $400 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.
(PHYSICIANS FOR NATIONAL HEALTH PROGRAM)

Creative Loafing chain up for auction | ajc.com

PAPER TUSSLE
This story about the sale of Creative Loafing brings back some memories. Way back in 1974 when I was a reporter at the Mobile Press-Register, I pitched the editors on an idea for a "soft news" supplement to the paper. It would be patterned on something called "readers" like Chicago's Reader and Atlanta's Creative Loafing. They turned it down. I did it anyway. They fired me. And I went on to publish the Azalea City News. Creative Loafing, which now publishes six weekly newspapers and has a combined weekly circulation of more than 400,000, is headed to the auction block next week in a Tampa bankruptcy court.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL)

WATCHACALLIT
The attack folks often justify their attacks as Bush payback. Bush was called a Nazi, Obama can now be called a Nazi, etc. (Let's leave the comparisons - Guantanamo concentration camps, Patriot Act, NSA, Valerie Plame, etc - alone for the moment.) However, when you point out that Nazi's are right wingers and that to be true to the political conventions Obama is a "commie" or a SOCIALIST, they point out that NAZI stands for national socialist. See? Okay, go try explaining that to our kind brethren at the American National Socialist Workers Party (Birmingham); Christian National Socialist Party (Childersburg, Al and Fl chapters); National Socialist Aryan Workers Party (Kennesaw, Ga.); American National Socialist Workers Party (Sarasota, Fl, Villa Rica, Ga. and the National Socialist Movement - NSM (Citrus County, Ocala, Tampa, St Augustine). Of course, if they don't like it here, they can always move to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

BTW: RUSH LIMBAUGH DENIES SAYING IT. OR DOES HE?

Organizing for America | BarackObama.com | Setting the Record Straight

COUNTERING THE HOO-HAH!
The Administration has just announced a new site that claims to "set the record straight and expose the special interests and partisan attack groups" who deliberately spread lies about health insurance reform.

NEW GALLERY DOWNTOWN
Don't know much about these guys, but want to welcome my new neighbors, The Robertson Gallery at 450 Dauphin Street. Judging from their site this looks like a top-notch addition to the local art scene. Think globally, buy locally.

United Breaks Guitars Song 2: The Saga Continues

GUITAR 2
When United Airlines workers destroyed Dave Carroll’s guitar in 2008, he tried everything to get fair compensation. After being denied, he promised that he would write three songs and post them onto YouTube. The result was that United Breaks Guitars, the first song, became a viral sensation. It surpassed 3 million views in 10 days and is now just shy of 5 million. It was social media in action, as United immediately contacted him and told him that they were taking the lesson to heart and offered compensation, albeit too late. Just released: Guitar 2.
(MASHABLE.COM)

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH
All this talk about "socialized medicine" and "socialism" had me wondering what the official position of our one-and-only socialist senator truly is.
(SENATOR SANDERS UNFILTERED)

IT'S THE END OF THE DOLE AS WE KNOW IT
Ever since the ACORN-rigged election of 1932, in which FDR first introduced crack cocaine as an incentive to induce black Americans to vote for the party of slavery, liberal nihilists have been using the tools of government to "help" the scum of America. No longer would we permit the free-market to take care of the elderly, sick, infirm, or poor. Hence forth, it was public dole time!
(AMERICAN NIHILIST BLOG)

Roger Ebert's Journal: Archives

AN EXCELLENT LIE
"Death panels" is such an excellent term. You know exactly what it means, and therefore you know you're against them. Debate over. This term more than anything else seems to have unified the opposition to the Obama health care proposals. It fuels the anger that has essentially shut down "town hall" meetings intended for the discussion of the issues. Of course the term is inspired by a lie.
(CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, suggested by MOLLY THOMAS)

JUST SAY IT AIN'T SO, JO
Jo Bonner's "Town Hall" meetings illustrate just how much needless hysteria surrounds the issue. And, just how disingenuous or irresponsible it is to hold supposedly informational meetings across the district but never correct any of the fears and misapprehensions of your constituents? Kudos to this lady from Prichard who calls Bonner out on it. Now, I wasn't there, so I don't know what the congressman's ultimate response was to the lady who was afraid of losing her health care because she is old (and, therefore, apparently, worthless and powerless without the good-willed intervention of her insurance company) or to the wild assertion that the government can attach your bank account, but I do know that it was Bonner's response to the crazy allegation about illegal aliens, not the questioner's (as this Steve Alexander piece suggests), that that was the "reason we must defeat this thing." After all, Bonner opines, there's nothing wrong with the system of health care we have now.
(WKRG-TV)

Be sure you check out this KEITH OLBERMANN PIECE that shows vintage Reagan attacking "Socialized Medicine" (aka Medicare) and see if you don't see any parallels.

See also this MEDIA MATTERS PIECE

The sound is horrible on this HOWARD DEAN VIDEO but the talking points are well worth a listen. Here's a NEWS PIECE about Dean's position.

LOSING ARTUR
There are some in the Alabama progressive community who are becoming more openly exasperated with Congressman Artur Davis. By the time of the Obama candidacy, Davis had been positioned wonderfully, having gained for himself the mantle of this state's new wunderkinder. And, black at that! Having bucked the conventional wisdom that he should hitch his star to Hillary's coat tails, his new-found clout seemed like a just reward. But then came his announcement that he would run for governor. It sounded like trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. It meant that at a time when we need progressive leadership in this state, one of its leading lights would be off on a quixotic chase. But, if Davis was quick to discount Hillary, it was obvious he had Bill on his mind and it looked like Davis was going to pass the others on the right. When Obama announced that he had nominated Regina Benjamin to become the new Surgeon General about a few weeks ago more than a few of us worried. After all, why was Obama's point man playing footsie with Jeff Sessions on the new US Attorney by even considering a Washington, D.C. insider over a local? Why was it taking so long to get these people in place? Was the Benjamin announcement, we wondered, just a sop to the local yokels for what was coming? And then the shoe dropped. Vicky Davis was passed over. Now,with his most recent announcement that he opposes the health care reform bills "in their present form" Davis has really stoked this discontent. As one critic points out "Health care reform is the most critical issue of our time, besides the environment. It's frustrating living in L.A. where affecting meaningful help from our 3 Federal representatives is hopeless. But losing Davis is unbearable."

TAKE ME TO YOUR LIDER
No University of Alabama player has arguably developed more over the past three years than Javier Arenas out of Robinson High School in Tampa. Thought to be too small for the Southeastern Conference at 5-foot-9, 198 pounds, he’s now on the field more than any other player. If coaches and football officials would let him, the cornerback might consider putting up a sign in the defensive backfield.
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS)

Rx for Reform | Online NewsHour | PBS

RX FOR HEALTH COSTS
Obama has touted integrated systems as a model to reduce costs under health care reform. Doctors in Billings, Montana talk about the clinic's participation in a Medicare project to try to reduce costs and improve health outcomes through better-coordinated care for chronically ill patients.
(NEWSHOUR)

Health debate turns vile with Nazi analogy - Breaking Bioethics- msnbc.com

SHOUTING OUT THE TRUTH
There is plenty to debate about health reform. But there is nothing to debate about the contemptible introduction of references, direct or oblique, to Nazi Germany. When the right wing, in their distaste for the President's push to reform a heath care system that even the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical industry recognize has to be fixed, suggest that the disabled will be targeted or that the elderly will be killed or find themselves without health care due to rationing by government bureaucrats as happened in Nazi Germany, they marginalize the gross evil that was the racial bigotry that fueled Nazi programs to euthanize, sterilize, experiment upon and torture people in places that were in no way connected to hospitals, clinics or nursing homes.
(MSNBC)

A search for New Orleans' best snowball -- chicagotribune.com

SEARCH'N FOR SNO BALLS N NAWLINS
I drive alongside the grassy slope of the Mississippi River levee and turn east at Magazine Street, traveling past Audubon Zoo toward downtown. It's a narrow, bumpy street shaded by giant oaks, their roots upending great chunks of sidewalk. But nobody seems to mind. This is New Orleans.
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE)

TEA-BAGGERS GONE WILD!
Federal lawmakers are returning home this week to begin their month-long recess and the far right is welcoming them with large, angry "town halls gone wild." Last week, a leaked Tea Party Patriots memo detailed how town hall goers should infiltrate meetings and harass members of Congress. The memo said activists should "stand up and shout out and sit right back down" so the representative is "made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."

NOTE: In response to this post some of my friends have asked how that is any different from ACORN's organizing efforts. My response is that ACORN organizing around an issue is okay, just as it's okay if the TPP organizes. It's the subterfuge that's wrong. Why isn't that obvious to anyone? Since when have you seen an ACORN event where the folks are clandestinely participating and where they are doing the direct bidding of the Democratic Party but acting like it's the spontaneous "will of the people"?
(ALTERNET)

SEE ALSO:

Keep The Government Out of My Medicare!

The Nazis Are coming! The Nazis Are Coming!

GOP: Party of Extremists?

What Stinking Health Care Problems?

The Associated Press: Lou Dobbs challenges his own CNN network

CNN STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
The Lou Dobbs controversy surrounding the "birther" movement asks the simple question many have asked: "How does that pendejo keep his job?"
(AP, suggested by TV NEWSER)

Mobile, AL school system loses its mind : Starts With A Bang

TEACHING WHAT?
100 years ago, segregation of sex was commonplace in schools. Not only that, but girls took "girl classes" like home economics, while boys took "boy classes" like trigonometry. One would think that we're past that by now. But under the sex-segregation program at a Mobile school, teachers had been instructed to treat boys and girls differently. At a teacher training, teachers were informed that boys should be taught about "heroic behavior" and girls should learn "good character."
(SCIENCE BLOG, suggested by LEE ANN KONIK CAMP-WATERSS)

WHY THEY DO IT
Just like Captain Renault in Casa Blanca, the race-baiters are "shocked, I tell you, shocked" to find such animosity: Senators by the "wise latina" comment; the media by outlandish tales of intrigue about Obama's dark secret motives.(eg., the "birther" "issue")
Why they do it is no surprise; Money, Power and it's easier than dealing with the mess they made and left for him to clean up. The real issue is why anyone acts surprised. It's part of their playbook. Remember the Clinton death list? Hillary as a killer crypto-lesbian who faked Vince Foster's suicide? The bottom line is, like the old joke about the dog, is that they can. But do we have to watch?

SEE ALSO
(ALTERNET)

Report: Bush mulled sending troops into Buffalo | ajc.com

POSSE COMMITATUS REDUX
In what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power, the Bush administration considered sending U.S. troops into a US city to make civilian arrests. The Constitution and various laws restrict the military from being used to conduct domestic raids and seize property. Cheney and other Bush aides used a Justice Department memo as justification for their claimed broad authority.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION)

Intelligent Design's Latest Sneaky Assault on Science | Belief | AlterNet

SNEAKY SCIENCE
The origins of the Intelligent Design movement can be found in the so-called Wedge Document, a founding manifesto and fundraising document for the Center for Science and Culture. It lays out a broadly ideological agenda, setting out a multi-decade plan for “the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies” and for the acceptance of “the proposition that human beings are created in the image of God.” But in presentations and public appearances CSC founder Stephen Meyer still presents himself as a scientist who is just following the evidence.
(ALTERNET)

Missouri Car Dealer Offers Free AK-47 With Purchase of New Truck | PEEK | AlterNet

WHAT, NO RACK?
Max Motors in Missouri - whose business slogan is "God, Guns, Guts, and American Pick-Up Trucks" - is offering a gift certificate for a Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle to anyone who purchases a pick-up truck.
(ALTERNET)

109433.jpg (JPEG Image, 652x434 pixels)

UNITE!
English "sex workers" held a parade around Soho thanking the community for their support in helping to keep women safe.
(DEMOTIX)

t r u t h o u t | Oysters for Health Care

PEOPLE'S RX
Although Dr. Regina Benjamin's clinic has not been able to give her a salary for years she's been willing to buy patient meds out of her own pocket. As we well know, many of the folks in the bayou are poor. So poor that sometimes she's paid with a pint of oysters or a couple of fish and she's been fine with that too. As a result she's received accolades from the health care industry and local politicos as well. This week, Numero Uno nominated her for Surgeon General.
(TRUTHOUT, suggested by MARCUS WIDENOR)

OH YES, SHE DID
Recently Pat Buchanan appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to argue that Sotomayor has made a career of discriminating against white males and that her nomination constitutes affirmative action run amok. He should have appeared on Morning Joe instead.
(ALTERNET)

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children’s Healthcare | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

NEW HEALTH CARE POLL
A new poll shows that a vital US demographic is opposed to health care reform.
(ONION)

Shouts & Murmurs: Britney’s Conversion Diary : The New Yorker

NO GRANDEE, SHE
Now, if E! was this funny I would watch it all of the time. This piece by Andy Borowitz, ostensibly about Britney Spears considering converting to Judaism, is hilarious. The singer has supposedly been spotted wearing a necklace with the Star of David symbol on during her world tour. She has even recruited a rabbi to help her study the faith.
(BOROWITZ REPORT)

Listen Up Punk! Is This the New Gay Anthem? | CarnalNation

GAY PUNK?
Kent James, also known as Nick Name is the usually shirtless, confrontational, and sexy singer who has been dubbed "the gay Henry Rollins" and "the most masculine man in gay culture." In this new video for his 2001 song, the singer is unapologetic and angry.
(CARNAL NATION)

Sotomayor Surprises Sessions - Washington Wire - WSJ

OH NO, SHE DIDN'T?
When Jeff Sessions contrasted her views with that of another judge, Sotomayor invited him to ask her as she was in the audience as part of her coterie. "My friend Judge (Miriam) Cedarbaum is here," she riposted, to Sessions’ apparent surprise. "We are good friends, and I believe that we both approach judging in the same way, which is looking at the facts of each individual case and applying the law to those facts," something to which Cedarbaum would later accede.
(WALL STREET JOURNAL, suggested by LYDIA GRANELL)

THE DONKEYS AND THE ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM
In an earlier post I noted that the Sotomayor hearings were going as expected, that is, along party lines and that, surprisingly, Lindsey Graham had been the most "real", and the most gracious. As this article notes there is another "real" donkey in the room that only the GOPers are (legitimately) talking about:

"The hardest question in the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor is one the nominee can’t answer. Not because she doesn’t know the law or can’t offer a satisfactory explanation for a phrase in a speech. Rather, it’s because this question doesn’t really involve her, although it has everything to do with the number of votes she will get.

(Now, as far as being "real" from my perspective, the Democrats - most ably Diane Feinstein - seemed to structure their commentary about who the real "activists" are.)

THIS STORY ILLUSTRATES WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT

SO DOES THIS ONE

DEMOGRAFICA LATINA
There are now more Puerto Ricans living in the 50 United States than on the island itself. Puerto Ricans are the second-largest population of Hispanic origin residing in the United States, accounting for 9.1% of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2007. Mexicans constituted 29.2 million, or 64.3%, of the Hispanic population.
(PEW RESEARCH, suggested by LA TIMES)

Health Care for America NOW! | Senator Grassley: Why can't we have health care as good as you?

GET A JOB
Chuck Grassley, the Republican taking the lead for his party on health care in the U.S. Senate, was asked by a constituent at a town hall meeting in Iowa why everyone can't have health care benefits as good as Grassley gets. His answer? Get a job like his.

SEE THE VIDEO
(HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW)

‘Religion’ billboard brings debate | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL

1ST AMENDMENT NOT A TWO-WAY STREET
A billboard that was put up by the Alabama Freethought Association is causing debate, with some saying the sign reading "Imagine No Religion" is offensive and should be removed. The billboard along Interstate 20 near Pell City was placed there by the association as part of a national campaign by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The background of the sign is of a stained glass window with the words by John Lennon from the song "Imagine" on top.
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS)

New York Movies - Sacha Baron Cohen in Queerface for Brüno, Mumblecore Boys in Bed for Humpday - page 1

HE'S HERE, HE'S QUEER - OR IS IT ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE?
As the primitive Asiatic "other" Borat (at once crypto Jew and rabid anti-Semite), Baron Cohen articulated a violent antipathy, inciting the unwary to agree with him. As the sophisticated, though stupid, European "other" Brüno (at once narcissistic celeb and frantic wannabe), Baron Cohen courts that antipathy himself. In both cases, he confounds his audience, creating a persona we hate to love. Is Brüno a minstrel show? Co-opting gay culture? Evidence of new tolerance or ineradicable prejudice? Or is it just using queer-ness to talk about something else?
(VILLAGE VOICE)

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

BETTER RED THAN DEAD
Quit your whining, the health care system is working just fine.
(DAILY KOS)

PHILADELPHIA PENNSYLVANIA (NOT MISSISSIPPI)
More than 60 young black children from Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club where their organization had paid to swim as part of summer camp. The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded: "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
(NBC)

The Patriot's Guide to Legalization | Mother Jones

THE "SKINNY" ON MARY JANE
Marijuana will probably not become legal. The United States, along with virtually every other country in the world, is a signatory to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (and its 1988 successor), which flatly prohibits its legalization. Add to that the fact that there's virtually no political appetite for legalizing cannabis even though public opinion has made steady strides. The real action in cannabis legalization is at the state level. More than a dozen states now have effective medical marijuana laws, most notably California. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT ALL OF THE SIDEBARS IN THIS Patriot's Guide To Legalization SECTION IN MOTHER JONES
(MOTHER JONES)

IN THEIR BOOTS
We've come a long way in our attitudes in this country and the military is changing right along with us, albeit a little more haltingly. When I was in the service the military had a lot of prohibitions that were justified with old saws, things like long hair or women in combat zones. We'd point to the Israelis or the Dutch, but no matter, they were in charge and that was how it was. This is a post from Veterans For America, which means that not only is the military changing, maybe even the vet organizations are too.
There's a lot that people don't talk about regarding "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": If a gay servicemember is killed in action, his/her partner won't be notified; Partners of gays serving in the military have to be careful about writing "I Love You" on letters or cards sent to their partners; and can't say it on the phone. This episode of In Their Boots brings it all to light.
(BRAVE NEW FILMS, suggested by VETERANS FOR AMERICA)

Reagan Was Wrong | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

REAGAN AND FAUX CONSERVATISM
Tax-cutting regulation-haters weren't the only false conservatives in the Reagan coalition, Fairlie argued: the bedroom-snooping, morality--legislating social conservatives were just as misguided. He was no libertarian, but he thought that much of the social agenda of the American political right (then and now) consisted of things that were nobody's business: "Let one homosexual, coke-snorting student bum get hold of two food stamps, and the whole apparatus of government is brought into play," he wrote.
(NEWSWEEK)

Use your Twitter to confuse Iranian censors

SEEDING THE FALSE DATA CLOUD
Prior to the recent Iranian elections, facebook and other social networks were being used as an organizing tool. Censors quickly jumped on this trend and blocked Facebook’s site from the entire country. The election protests were organized and publicized on Twitter, which the bureaucracy failed to block in time. Iranian censors are now combing the twitter network for dissidents in a Savak-like fashion. But folks around the world are trying to help the Iranian Resistance. This may or may not help, but it's worth a try.
(Suggested by ELIJAH EL BEZE)

Stabler and me | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL

THE GREAT GULF SHORES DUST UP
The last time Bob Padecky had asked Kenny Stabler a question, he responded by using an action verb and the second-person personal pronoun and then walked straight past him on the Raiders' practice field behind El Rancho Motel in Santa Rosa. Of course, that was 30 years ago and times change, people change, events change people. The dust-up he and Stabler had in southern Alabama is ancient history for most people and he was now was curious if it would be the same for Stabler. I mean, after all, Padecky was the one thrown in jail, not Stabler.
(TUSCALOOSA NEWS)

WHAT IS DPI?
European telecom companies have helped the Iranian regime develope one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet. Deep Packet Inspection enables authorities to monitor and gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes.

CHECK THIS OUT TOO!

AND THIS!

REMEMBER CARNIVORE?
(MEDIA REFORM DAILY and link suggestions from Chris Fuchs and Tony Hines)

Twitter Unleashes Deluge of Sarcasm on Republican Congressman -- Daily Intel -- New York News Blog -

GOP/IRAN MEME
I must be the last person in the world who doesn't tweet. But this may get me to sign up. If you missed Jon Stewart's parody of this, it's bound to be on the Comedy Central website and is worth a quick peek. But it seems some congressperson's tweets comparing the GOP's travails to those of the Iranian dissidents has provoked the proverbial sandstorm of parody. The Twitter community, deeply immersed in the Iranian conflict, was appalled and the mocking began. A new blog devoted to the meme has already sprung up. Here are just a few:

I got a sunburn last weekend. Makes me think of Hiroshima;

my softball game was rained out today. Now I know what Hurricane Katrina felt like;

fell off my surfboard in Malibu today, now I know what D-day felt like;

someone walked in on me while I was in the bathroom. Reminded me of Pearl Harbor.

(NEW YORK MAGAZINE, suggested by LEE-ANN WATERRS CAMP)

VIRTUAL WALLS AND GREEN TSUNAMIS
It's The Matrix, but real. A hearty group of freedom fighters parrying a formidable machine, living by their wits and besting the evil menace though their ubber-techno abilities. On one side is a powerful monolith firing bullets and on the other side are young protesters firing "tweets". What's not to love? This piece touches on a real question that the media has left largely unexplained, how the hell are the Iranian dissidents doing it? Can we help? Despite the Iranian government's efforts to curtail it, a secret Internet lifeline remains, and it’s a tribute to the crazy, globalized world we live in that the lifeline was designed by dissident Chinese computer engineers whose mission it is to battle against the Great China Virtual Wall in their homeland.

Be sure to check out the GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM CONSORTIUM mentioned in this piece. Geeks will especially love their white papers.

CHECK THIS OUT TOO!

(NEW YORK TIMES, suggested by JOHN FURMAN)

World | AlterNet

SOLIDARITY
The stars of Iran’s soccer team wore green wristbands in support of the anti-government protesters, during a game broadcast live on Iranian state TV yesterday. “State television, which has been broadcasting Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s competing rallies, has steered clear of images of Mr Moussavi’s protests,” the Financial Times notes. “But given the popularity of football in Iran, keeping the match off the air would not have been an option."
(ALTERNET)

The Secret Love Letters of Afghan Women | Mother Jones

LOVE IN RUINS
"There is no room for love in Afghanistan," the young teenage girl said to me as if it were true and had been true for years, for as long as she could remember. In the twilight of that evening and for several years after, her remark caused me to reflect on the kind of space that love itself can consume. In the tiny precipice of this Afghan girl's heart, where love and all of its beautiful unknowns should have blossomed, it didn't, it couldn't....And then one day, a surprise. A young man brought me a stack of letters. More than 600 pages, it was a secret correspondence of love, one that allowed the imaginations of two lovers to wander, for it was only in those pages and in their dreams that they could walk together. To disclose their love would mean the end and perhaps worse. That day I realized that love existed in Afghanistan - in a single glance, a certain tone, the shadow of a school yard - but not without grave risk or consequence.
(MOTHER JONES)

HEALTH REFORM DEBATES START HEATING UP
ABC News has responded to the Republican National Committee's "pushback" that the network is excluding "opposing voices" during next week's White House conversation on President Obama's national health care plan. An ABC representative characterized the RNC letter as containing "a number of false premises." Explaining, she wrote that "ABC News alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president." And, further, "ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."
(TV NEWSER)

Repeat the Question

CAN HEALTH CARE REFORM FAIL?
Sixteen years ago Stanley Greenberg conducted polling for Bill Clinton on the issue of health care reform. Recently, he has been reviewing old surveys and focus groups and memos to the president. He has returned to the field, posing the same questions to the public, to determine how the mood has shifted and how the forces that oppose reform can best be countered. He's looked at each question, remembering how it all went badly wrong. As he reached the last of the questions, he exclaimed: "Oh no. It can't be. Nothing's changed."
(NEW REPUBLIC)

Urban Art Thriving in Berlin | Demotix.com

BERLIN'S STREET ART
Street art has a long historic and culture in London, New York, Sao Paulo, and in many metropolitan centers around the world. However in Berlin, it especially seems to be thriving since the wall came down in 1989.
(DEMOTIX)

WERE ELECTIONS RIGGED?
Middle East experts are falling into two broad camps on the Iranian election. One argues that numerous irregularities are de facto evidence supporting claims that a presidential coup has taken place in Iran. A second camp argues caution, suggesting that many in the media had come down with a case of "wishful thinking" that raised expectations beyond reason, and the gap between the expectations and results is leading to an eagerness to embrace the opposition's claims of massive fraud. Into that debate, a new statistical analysis of the election results is making the rounds that suggests that the numbers reported by the Interior Ministry are evidence of large-scale vote-fraud. But polling by our political guru Nate Silver finds the analysis unpersuasive. (CLICK HERE)
(ALTERNET)

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

KATZENJAMER
I'm a world music fan, with - as you might expect - a heavy concentration on Latin sounds. I don't know how the hell I came across this Norwegian (yes, Norway!) rock band, but I've become infatuated with this "girl" rock group that is kind of a cross between the Dixie Chicks and Spike Jones. Make sure you check out:

A BAR IN AMSTERDAM

AIN'T NO THANG

MOTHER SUPERIOR

THIS

AND THIS

Joe Scarborough Fires Back at Jon Stewart, Compares Him To Bill O'Reilly - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE
Oh no, he didn't? Did Joe Scarborough compare Jon Stewart to Bill O'Reilly? This has all the makings of a feud that may extend beyond the levels of the Jim Cramer/Stewart brouhaha. After Stewart responded to Scarborough's response to Stewart's segment earlier this week, Scarborough brought it all back up again this morning. He made some short jokes and, ironically enough, described Stewart as a "very angry guy". Stay tuned. This will be fun.
(TV NEWSER)

GUARDING THE BACON
Sheila Bair was reappointed by President Obama to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. A Republican, she is protecting the interest of taxpayers as no Democrat has in this administration. Huge financial decisions are being made by the government, involving trillions in future obligations of U.S. taxpayers, and Bair has been a rare effective voice for the interests of ordinary folk. That is why the big guys on Wall Street and their allies in the administration are out to get her.
(TRUTHDIG)

Kansas City - Fat City - Nothing to see here folks. Rockstar Energy drink is in no way connected with Michael Savage.

BITTER TEA
Michael Savage's "Savage Nation" holds the third-largest radio audience in the country. His son is the founder of the popular Rockstar Energy drinks. Savage is using legal means to silence Web sites and even Facebook groups publicizing any connection between the two. Just to be clear, Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner) has no connection to Rockstar. Even though his son is the founder and CEO and even though his wife is both secretary and treasurer for Rockstar, Michael Savage is shocked that this would lead some Web sites to believe that he has any connection with the company. In fact, as far as we know, Savage has never even heard of the energy drink that shares the same mailbox as his company.

SEE ALSO
(GAYWIRED, suggested by ALTERNET)

BASEBALL AND THE "LITTLE EASY"
The Mobile Satchel Paige returned to in 1923 was full of optimism. The Great War had been good to the city, expanding Alabama's only deep-water port and making Mobile a trading hub for products as varied as lumber, tractors, and blackstrap molasses. Mardi Gras was back after a wartime siesta, as was the city's reputation as the Little Easy. It was less commercial and more free-spirited than its Big Easy neighbor to the West, New Orleans. Mobile joyfully embraced prostitution and intoxication and disdained the old evangelist Sam Jones, who a generation earlier had declared, "I'd be a stockbroker in hell before I'd be a director of a Mardi Gras . . . [where] men are drunk and carousing on the streets and girls go about in men's clothing." Keep it up, Jones admonished Mobilians, and "your city will be damned eternally."
(NPR, suggested by Garet Cox)

Obama and the Press | vanityfair.com

HANDLING THE FOURTH ESTATE
The Obama Administration may have the smartest, most finely calibrated press operation in White House history, parceling out scoops, partisan talking points, and First Family tidbits to a desperate media. Just don't ask them to admit it. The administration has started with 14 professionals working in the office of the press secretary—and an astounding 47 more devoted to other aspects of media and message - which is significantly more than the communications staffs of many Fortune 500 corporations. But the media operation goes deeper than that. It’s more central than in any previous administration, and run more knowledgeably.
(VANITY FAIR)