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Blogs Eric Reads
Franken Claims Recount Lead, and more
- Marc Elias, chief recount lawyer for Al Franken’s campaign, announced that Franken now leads Coleman by 22 votes according to the campaign’s recount results tracking. This is the first time in the entire process that the Franken camp has claimed a lead. Could we have 59 Democratic Senators when Congress convenes in January? (TPM Election Central)
- 75% of Americans approve of Obama’s Cabinet picks so far, according to a CNN poll. And then, of course, the rest of the poll is about whether Obama or Clinton will actually be president. Good times. (CNN)
- And in other Cabinet news, could the first black president appoint the first openly gay secretary? Mary Beth Maxwell, a labor activist and out lesbian, is reportedly on the shortlist for Secretary of Labor. (Wall Street Journal)
- The economy is so bad that the Bushes are only buying a house for Christmas. Yeah, you read that right. While you’re all having you homes foreclosed, George and Laura Bush are buying a house that’s two hours away from the ranch they already own. Also, we can all eat cake for Christmas. (ABC News)
Adventures in Conservative “Thought”
Shorter Verbatim Conservapedia:
Bush has presided over a period of general economic growth.
Heh, indeedy.
Good thing Bush’s presidency ended in September, right?
(via)
Ours Too
Still-President George W. Bush:
The biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq.
I think we can all agree with that.
(via)
Economists: Recession Began December 2007
And it’s been downhill ever since:
The U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, a committee of economists at the private National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday. The economy reached a peak in December and has been declining since, according to the business cycle dating committee of the NBER.
Still, the wingnuts will contintue to blame (not officially President yet) Obama and absolve (still-President) Bush. Graaah socialism!!
Bush Gets PEACE Award, and more
- Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church will today award Still-President Bush the first-ever “International Medal of PEACE” in recognition of his tireless efforts in the fight against the use of condoms by people with AIDS. I’m sure the neocons have been praying for months for someone to make up an award for Bush and–what do you know!–they got one with the word PEACE in capital letters. It’s World AIDS Day and Neocon Christmas all rolled into one! Update: Pandagon commenter Ellen wonders if this is a pathetic response to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize. Hm. (ChristianNewsWire via Pandagon/The Guardian)
- Tomorrow is the Georgia Senate runoff election, and GOP superstar Sarah Palin is back on the stump for Saxby Chambliss. But since the whole country has settled on the fact that Palin is a first-class moron who probably cost McCain the election, the Democrats are matching her with Ludacris, who, in addition to actually being from Georgia, probably has a better command of the English language than Palin. (Ben Smith)
- Good news for universal healthcare fans! Looks like everybody in the frickin’ world–businesses, hospitals, doctors, unions, insurance companies, lawmakers–wants it. Hopefully Secretary Daschle is figuring the whole thing out now so he can start working on it on January 20. (Los Angeles Times)
- Also, that thing with Hillary Clinton we’ve been hearing so much about is happening at 10:40 am eastern time. (Washington Post)
- A Miami-Dade judge says there is “no rational basis” for a Florida law prohibiting gays from adopting children. John Cole outlines the wingnut interpretation of the Constitution when it comes to Teh Gay. Now you know what to expect for the next few days. (CBS News/Balloon Juice)
- Repeatedly bailed-out coporation AIG is hard at work making sure bloggers accruately represent how they’re wasting their latest infusion of taxpayer money. They’re media relations department emailed Wonkette and, needless to say, hilarity ensued. (Wonkette)
- DC police are investigating a bank robbery that occurred at 14th and K Street NW this morning. Obviously, this master thief hasn’t been reading the news or he would have known that banks don’t have any money anymore. Still, it’s inspiring to see a taxpayer robbing K Street, rather than the other way around. (DCist)
- Still-President Bush pardoned a guy who pled guilty to killing three bald eagles in 1995. Let freedom ring! (Associated Press)
Sunday Night Blog Wrapup
Well, technically Sunday afternoon, but it’s dark outside so that may as well be night.
- Check out the midnight regulations the Bush administration is trying to push through before January 20. Uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, even more surveillance, loaded guns in national parks, and less aid for sex trafficking victims are at the top of my list of things that set off alarm bells. But hey, if anyone can destroy this country in two months, it’s George W. Bush. (ProPublica)
- And speaking of destroying the country, rich guy Steve Forbes says Hank Paulson is the worst Treasury Secretary ever. Unfortunately, he still gets to run economic policy for the next couple months. Bummer. Maybe Steve Forbes could help by putting in some of his millions. (CNN)
- The AP has compiled a list of everyone that Barack Obama is still considering for cabinet posts. So far it’s Timothy Geithner at Treasury, Hillary Clinton at State, Eric Holder as Attorney General, Tom Daschle at HHS, Janet Napolitano at DHS, John Brennan as CIA Director, Bill Richardson at Commerce, Lawrence Summers as Director of the National Economic Council, and Peter Orszag at OMB. Every other position is still up for grabs. (Associated Press)
- Andrew Sullvian makes a good catch on the LGBT rights front. While gays around the country protest the passage of Prop 8, the Human Rights Campaign is holding a fundraiser at Bloomingdale’s to raise money for themselves. Only in America could the response to a major crisis be, “Go shopping.” (Andrew Sullivan)
- After ceremonially pardoning a turkey this morning, Sarah Palin stepped outside to do a little press conference. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to notice that one of the turkeys not fortunate enough to receive her pardon was being slaughtered right behind her. Oops. On a positive note, I guess, the turkey wasn’t killed from a helicopter. Warning: This video may not be appropriate for children or vegetarians. (YouTube)
- Senators Hillary Clinton (yeah, she’s still in the Senate at least for a few more days) and Patty Murray introduced the Protecting Patients and Health Care Act, which would block the Department of Health and Human Services’ planned last minute anti-women regulations. Nice catch, Senators. Bush and his crew are going to keep screwing America up until midnight January 19. (Feministing)
- Gas is under $2 a gallon again! Woohoo! Except apparently this is called deflation, and it is a bad thing. I can’t quite wrap my head around why expensive things suddenly becoming cheaper is bad thing, but I guess that’s why I’m not the Washington Post. (The Washington Post)
- After collapsing while giving a speech last night, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is “conscious, conversant and alert” in the hospital. Some of the news orgs have videos of him collapsing, but I’m not going to link them because I think that’s a little too creepy. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery. (CNN)
World Leaders Ignore Bush at G20 Summit
Remember the high school bully who nobody liked? Well, he grew up to be President of the United States.
A Case of the Mondays
(Sorry if all these bulleted-list posts seems like cop outs. It’s a busy time of the year.)
- The Senate Democratic caucus vote on whether Holy Joe Lieberman keeps his committee chairmanship is coming up soon. Kagro X reminds us that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, 93% of whose residents voted for Barack Obama, so it would be awfully shitty to let John McCain’s best buddy run the place. Since the Lieberman vote will be done by secret ballot, a fully expect the Democratic Senate majority to cave, just like they’ve been doing for the past couple years. (DailyKos)
- Still-President Bush has the high honor of being the first U.S. President to ever call Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi. Bush called Qadhafi to thank him for agreeing to a claims settlement agreement between the two countries. How dare Bush speak with a foreign leader with preconditions! Surrender!! (First Read)
- Right before the election, Barack Obama sent a letter to a bunch of federal employees telling them about change they can believe in. Basically, the letter explains all of the Bush administration policies that Obama would rescind, like outsourcing government work and censoring science. If it’s undoing something George Bush did, I’m for it. (Washington Post)
- Barack Obama met with John McCain today because he wanted to hear McCain call him “Mr. President-Elect” several times to his face. Oh, and they also released the world’s most generic joint statement. Seriously. It’s only two paragraphs long but it uses a lot of words to say absolutely nothing. On the plus side, there’s a hilariously awkward video of the two talking. Look how hard it is for Obama not to gloat. (Ben Smith/YouTube)
- Lots of racist white people are pissed off that we elected a black man to be president. They can’t handle that the rest of us don’t hate minorities as much as they do and they’re getting angry and violent. Obama has already received more death threats than any other president-elect in American history, and I’m willing to bet that some of that can be blamed on the vitriol of Sarah Palin. It’s not going to be an easy four years for President Obama. (Christian Science Monitor/Austin American-Statesman/Federal News Radio)