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   Read the story and see the video discussion by the authors about why creeping consolidation is crushing American livelihoods.
 A forensic tool renowned for exonerating the innocent may actually be putting them in prison.
 Crises can force even the most dysfunctional governments to changeand Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou aims to prove it.
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January 19, 2009
MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * Over the weekend, Israel declared a cease fire to its three-week offensive in Gaza. Hamas, in response, declared a week-long truce, purportedly the time it should take for Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza. * On a related note, the Washington Post notes an uncomfortable truth about the break in the violence: neither Israel nor Hamas "made any concessions, except to stop fighting temporarily." * On "Oprah," Jill Biden said Joe Biden was offered either the V.P. slot of the Secretary of State job. The soon-to-be vice president responded, "Shhhh." * The Rev. Gene Robinson's invocation yesterday wasn't televised on HBO, but the inaugural committee will rebroadcast it tomorrow on the Mall. * Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell may be Obama's special envoy to the Middle East. * Paul Krugman responds to dumb Wall Street Journal editorials so we don't have to. * There are no doubt multiple factors at play, but this fiscal year has been great for military recruiting, "with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004." * Senate Republicans can't defeat Hilda Solis' nomination for Labor Secretary, but they apparently plan to slow it down an awful lot. * The drop in interest rates has had "an unplanned and severe effect on legal aid societies, which depend heavily on revenues that are tied to the federal funds rate." As a result, "Scores of legal aid societies that help poor people with noncriminal cases -- like disputes over foreclosures, evictions and eligibility for unemployment benefits -- are being forced to cut their staffs and services, even as requests for help have soared." (thanks to T.D. for the tip) * It looks like Obama's OLC is going to be terrific. * It's a good thing Matthew Weiner and Lionsgate TV worked out a new two-year deal. "Mad Men" without Weiner at the helm would have been a serious problem. * Sean Hannity blamed last week's emergency landing on the Hudson on Chuck Schumer and bird-lovers. It was, of course, further evidence that Hannity is a parody of himself. * And finally, it appears that the Bush gang will resist the urge to remove the "O's" from White House keyboards. Given this, it's probably worth mentioning that in 2002, a review by the General Accounting Office found that "while there were some pranks that caused minor damage to White House property, reports of widespread vandalism by outgoing Clinton officials had been exaggerated." Anything to add? Consider this an open thread. —Steve Benen 5:30 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (32)Comments
Bush's departure from power will leave a lot of us with a Big O. Sorry, had to be said... Posted by: Chocolate Thunder on January 19, 2009 at 5:28 PM | PERMALINKI sure hope that Obama's Inauguration is less boring than Clinton's first. Wow! I just watched it on C-Span. Bad music, bad speech. I wanted to watch this at the time, but Seattle experienced a huge wind storm that knocked out power and sank one of our floating bridges. Until today, I thought I had missed something. Somehow, I think we under-rate what a good speech writer and speaker our next president is, and how well organized are his public appearances. Hopefully there will be a lot less marching band music tomorrow. The mood is just not right for this football half-time-like music. Posted by: tomj on January 19, 2009 at 5:39 PM | PERMALINKThe so called "Biden leak" on Oprah is not a leak, NOT new news--I can't remember who leaked the fact that Biden was given a choice by Obama if he wanted to be V.P. or Secretary state, but this information was stated by some news pundit (CNN or CNBC) around the time Hillary was offered the position for secretary of state (or when she accepted it). I idistinctly remember this, as he went on to joke that Joe likely picked V.P. as it's an easier job... If there are any good researchers out there who track these things, hopefully they can find out who this was. But I can't believe how much MSNBC in particular is running with this so called "Scoop". It's NOT a scoop! MSNBC is wrong, and yet no-one seems to be indicating as such--they're having too much fun indulging themselves... Doesn't anyone do a fact check anymore? I did notice that after that brief mention, this was not discussed again--so clearly others caught it and journalists were warned to not discuss this. But I'm not even a journalist and I remember hearing this! Sheez--you'd think someone else would know on the MSNBC staff, on the Oprah staff--you'd think the Bidens would've known this was already put out there...Doesn't anyone do their homework? Am I the only lay person who knows this is a False Scoop and Not New News? If so, that's pretty scary. Or I'm watching too many news shows! Posted by: Jill Biden leaked nothing--it was alreadly mentioned at least once that Biden was given a choice bet on January 19, 2009 at 5:41 PM | PERMALINKI meant to say I noticed it wasn't discussed anymore when it first came out in passing during an interview several weeks ago. I figured others felt it simply was a non-story, so they didn't follow through on it... It's pretty scary how quickly folks jump on board with stuff like this without verifying--they are way too eager to have a fun 'scoop' like this--especially because Joe Biden is known for his gaffes. Posted by: Re: Jill Biden leaked NOTHING! on January 19, 2009 at 5:45 PM | PERMALINKI'm glad Mad Men will be around with the creator at the helm. Not much intelligent TV on these days. Posted by: Former Dan on January 19, 2009 at 5:48 PM | PERMALINK* And finally, it appears that the Bush gang will resist the urge to remove the "O's" from White House keyboards. -- Steve Benen Yeah, but will they be able to resist the last opportunity to strike at the Muslim terrorism and leave the aitches alone too? Posted by: exlibra on January 19, 2009 at 5:54 PM | PERMALINKIn a strange way, I think "remove the 'w's" story in 2001 was one of the most important of the last 8 years. The Bushies simply made the whole thing up, the media ate it up and provided round-the-clock coverage based on the lie, then when the lie was revealed, the media just let it slide. I'm still convinced that this was the moment the Administration realized there was going to be absolutely no accountability for anything they did, and the press would back them up entirely. If I had to bet, I would guess the current White House staffers will leave the O's, but take the W's, especially if they could get someone to anoint them. Posted by: Danp on January 19, 2009 at 6:18 PM | PERMALINKIt is Martin Luther King Day today. However it is also Robert E Lee Day today in some states as well. Posted by: Horace on January 19, 2009 at 6:20 PM | PERMALINKI wouldn't be surprised if all the $ signs were missing. Posted by: Marko on January 19, 2009 at 6:28 PM | PERMALINKMs. Oz and the Greater Ozlet (that is, adult daughter) wangled tix to for the inaug and felt compelled to go to Washington. They keep calling me and telling me what a great time they are having, despite the weather. Ms. Dr. Oz touched a moon rock! The Greater Ozlet met Buzz Aldrin! They wandered around Henry Waxman's office (I hope they at least made off with some stationery)!! They stood in line 3 hours for some sort of famous chili dogs at a place Obama likes! They SAW OBAMA IN A MOTORCADE!!! I believe I will watch the festivities on television here in California, where the temp is a balmy 83 today. As my brother says (quoting, he thinks, from Geo. Carlin [may he rest in peace]), "When you watch it on TV, you can take your pants off." Posted by: Ozhead on January 19, 2009 at 7:23 PM | PERMALINKI have no idea what Hannity's point was but let me just say that on this we probably agree: I hate geese. They crap everywhere and calling them 'migratory' is like calling my foray into the kitchen for another diet pepsi migratory. We should be doing more to keep their populations down, especially around airports. Posted by: mark r on January 19, 2009 at 7:33 PM | PERMALINKBrilliant reader comment on Sully's site. I've often pondered why comedians cutting into Barack never make me laugh. "Obama has the realness that comes from the hard psychological work that it takes to really get to know yourself and come out on the other side unafraid of whatever might come your way. That is decidedly not funny." Bull's eye. After forty pages of Dreams from My Father, if you are any sort of deep reader at all, you know the truth of this observation... Posted by: koreyel on January 19, 2009 at 7:39 PM | PERMALINKT-minus 16 hours and counting... baby! Imagine that.. a hard ass curmudgeon like me, Taking tomorrow off..... Posted by: Jill Biden leaked nothing--it was alreadly mentioned at least once that Biden was given a choice bet on January 19, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Heh, looks like Joe's wife has the same blabbermouth as him. BTW he would have done well at State. Will Hillary? PS: Gaza is an "occupied territory" and as such Israel has responsibility to protect the welfare of the inhabitants, not just its own. Posted by: Neil B ☺ on January 19, 2009 at 7:52 PM | PERMALINK"I have no idea what Hannity's point was" His point was "liberals bad", "conservatives good". If that fat f*ck actually stopped to investigate what he was reporting, he wouldn't have a show. It took me all of 2 seconds to find out what "geesepeace" does. Pulled from their website their mission is Stabilize the population growth rate of resident Canada geese. Left unchecked, the numbers of Canada geese will double every five years. GeesePeace has consulted with animal welfare, animal rights, and wildlife conservation organizations and leaders and State and National Wildlife managers. They all agree that a concerted effort to locate goose nesting areas, then addling/oiling or replacing of Canada goose eggs will stop the problem in its tracks, giving communities time to devise, organize and implement site aversion strategies.
Get a load of this headline from Drudge: Just under it: Pelosi open to prosecution of Bush officials... Good God, the Democratic leadership has been practically begging Bush to blanket pardon.. but he ain't biting. Either Bush is denser then anyone imagined, or there's one hell of a backstory here.. ( I'm betting #2. ) Posted by: Joey Giraud on January 19, 2009 at 8:10 PM | PERMALINKAs much as I was impressed with Krugman actually posting a LOLcat, shouldn't he also follow Sadly No guys in putting: "‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™"? Posted by: DustPuppyOI on January 19, 2009 at 8:11 PM | PERMALINKAw, poor Hillary, having her feelings hurt. Must be tough when you think you're bigger than the game. Posted by: Vincent on January 19, 2009 at 8:14 PM | PERMALINKJason Linkins at The Huffington Post had a link to a Slate article by Christopher Beam on Bush's farewell party. see: http://www.slate.com/id/2209137/ Yeah, time to move on... Posted by: golack on January 19, 2009 at 8:53 PM | PERMALINKThere are no doubt multiple factors at play, but this fiscal year has been great for military recruiting, "with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004." Now that Commander Kookoo Bananas is leaving office, I'm not surprised that people feel like they might get a better break in the armed forces. Posted by: Mnemosyne on January 19, 2009 at 9:19 PM | PERMALINKNow that Commander Kookoo Bananas is leaving office, I'm not surprised that people feel like they might get a better break in the armed forces.-- Mnemosyne, @21:19 They also have fewer job and education options in the outside world. Posted by: exlibra on January 19, 2009 at 9:28 PM | PERMALINKBiden for SoS? It seems impossible to me that SoS could have been offered in the same timezone as VP. Is Dr. Biden hopelessly confused, I know that the overall chatter was that Biden would be good at either post, but was anyone thinking about SoS when Obama was touring the world just after the election? But the most important point is that asking if Biden wanted to be SoS is not an answer to who will be VP. Maybe it is a trick question. While everyone is interviewing for VP, do you want to be SoS? Overall, Dr. Biden's statement is devoid of meaning, politically. On a family level, it is real and personal. Joe Biden seems bound to his family, and if he was out of the country most of the time, it would be a real hardship. But one curious fact: Dr. Biden talked about all those that campaigned for Joe. Did this campaigning happen prior to his VP selection? How many Bidens showed up in Iowa? Posted by: tomj on January 19, 2009 at 9:48 PM | PERMALINKHannity...What a fool. Doesn't he realize that geese populations have grown throughout the passed decade or so in large part from the efforts of such Republican-leaning groups like Ducks Unlimited? Damn those hunters! Posted by: JWK on January 19, 2009 at 10:00 PM | PERMALINKOpen thread... One especially for Zeitgeist :) More good news - al Qaeda gets hit with bubonic plague: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2146286.ece Posted by: brucds on January 19, 2009 at 10:12 PM | PERMALINKThey also have fewer job and education options in the outside world. True, but I don't think we'd be seeing the same surge if President McCain were being inaugurated tomorrow. Posted by: Mnemosyne on January 19, 2009 at 11:42 PM | PERMALINKIf I had to bet, I would guess the current White House staffers will leave the O's, but take the W's, especially if they could get someone to anoint them. Give me a few beers and I'd be happy to anoint all over them. Posted by: e henry thripshaw on January 20, 2009 at 9:08 AM | PERMALINK
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