Where’s the Outrage?

Sunday evening news Roundup –

• A new paper from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for American Progress reinforces what we already know — supply-side economics does not work. It does not create more jobs. It does not increase investment. It does not increase revenue for the government. None of the things that supply-siders told us, turned out to be true.  Surprised?
• The Washington Post has a long article on Gov. Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla. The summary of this long article is she didn’t do much. She made a lot of enemies. Not a great legacy.
• There’s a growing list of journalists who have jumped off of the John McCain bandwagon. Finally, the journalists are being to see John McCain for who he really is — a very vindictive politician who was a hero 30 years ago.
• There’ve been a lot of articles recently documenting concern and angst among Democrats. Maybe the concern and angst were among reporters and not among Democrats per se. Barack Obama pulled in $66 million in August.
• Marcy Wheeler of the blog Empty Wheel follows up on the anthrax case. It appears that Bruce Ivins’s will speaks even though he can’t. The FBI put forth as one of the chief motives for sending anthrax to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy was that he was against abortion. Unfortunately, this theory seems to follow through says Prof. Ivins donate some of his money to Planned Parenthood.
• For those who interested in donating to the Red Cross you can donate online @ www.wncredcross.org or www.redcross.org. The cleanup from hurricane Gustav and hurricane Ike continues.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Election 2008 // Add Comment »

A few thoughts on the early games in the NFL –

The Indianapolis Colts have a lot of work to do on their offensive line but Peyton Manning is just incredible quarterback. The Minnesota Vikings had multiple opportunities to win the game in the first half but could not get the ball in the end zone. Adrian Peterson, if he can stay healthy, may become one of the greatest players of all time. He is an amazing run back to watch.  The Cincinnati Bengals need a lot of help. They look absolutely abysmal. During the first half, the Detroit Lions look like the worst team in the NFL. In the second half they put together a rally to make the game close. Aaron Rodgers is playing great football for the Green Bay Packers. The worst in the NFL maybe the Kansas City Chiefs. They just looked awful against the Oakland Raiders. The Carolina Panthers were beaten in every way in the first half by a rejuvenated and resurgent Chicago Bears defense. The Panthers managed to come up with some sort of game plan and were able to claw out a victory against the Chicago Bears. The New York Giants continue to look good this year. The St. Louis Rams continue to look terribly awful. Their offensive and the defensive lines are pitiful. The Buffalo Bills look like they will be a solid team this year. I’m not sure what to think about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Finally, I’m not sure what to make out the Washington Redskins or the New Orleans Saints.

Tags: Sports // Add Comment »

I start with an update on Hurricane Ike. Sex, drugs and the department of the interior. So, what’s going on the economy. I have Heidi Shierholz from the Economic Policy Institute joins me to discuss some of the economic numbers. The bottom line is that supply side economics doesn’t work. I am then joined Rick Newman, Chief Business Correspondent from US News and World Report. We discuss this bailout syndrome that our government seems to be suffering from. This is a great show.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show 9-13-08 [47:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Podcasts // Add Comment »

This evenings news Roundup.

• Hurricane Ike blew through Galveston and Houston early this morning.  Most of Galveston is underwater.  Power is out to some 4 - 5 million people.  Restoring power might take weeks. Hurricane Ike was headed up I45 toward Dallas but started to veer towards the right towards Tyler, Texas.  It has currently been downgraded to a tropical storm.  President Bush has declared parts of Texas a disaster area.
• The Baltimore Ravens — Houston Texans football game originally scheduled for Sunday, tomorrow, has been rescheduled to a later date.  The game was scheduled to be played in Houston at Reliant Stadium.  I’ve heard some reports that Reliant Stadium suffered some damage.  With flooding in some areas in Houston and massive power outages, I believe the NFL has made the right decision.
• The New Yorker has an exclusive interview with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  In the interview she admits that she spoke with state police commissioner about the problems that she was having with her ex-brother-in-law the state trooper.  Trooper-Gate seems to show the kind of vindictiveness that we’ve seen from the Bush administration as evidenced by the US Attorney’s scandal.
• Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, today, goes to bat for Governor Palin.  Many people in the media and most of the major blogs (even my little blog) chastised Governor Palin for not knowing what the “Bush doctrine” was in an ABC interview with Charlie Gibson.  As a matter of fact, the Washington Post, in a separate article, argues that there are probably seven policies which could be labeled the Bush doctrine.  Let us remember that this was the first interview that Governor Sarah Palin has granted since she was plucked out of obscurity by Senator McCain.  She needed to prove to the American people that she had knowledge outside of moose burgers.  She had been very aggressive in this interview.  She could’ve taken the offensive and stated, “the Bush doctrine as I understand it” and then state any of the seven answers that were possible.  She didn’t.  She didn’t come close.  Charles Krauthammer needs to go to bat for a conservative that has actually been aware of the foreign-policy of the Bush administration over the last seven years.
• When you’re running for a national office like the presidency and you have no new ideas, you need to find something else to talk about. The McCain campaign over last two to three weeks has shown that they will manufacture controversy over trivial matters — “lipstick on a pig” and they have targeted a favorite whipping boy of the right wing — the media.  Fred Thompson was the first salvo in what I suspect will be a seven week long campaign against the media and their coverage of the McCain campaign.  Look for an official statement blasting the members of The View because they treated John McCain “unfairly.”  They didn’t but I think that the McCain campaign will say they did.  By the way, the women, on The View, did an excellent job of trying to pin John McCain down for some of the hypocrisy that he has shown us lately.
• Yesterday, a bomb went off in New Delhi.  18 people were killed and as many as 61 others were wounded.  This really wasn’t one bomb but a series of five bombs.  We must remember that India, the world’s largest democracy, has a significant amount of social unrest.
• A car bomb exploded north of Baghdad killing 31 people and wounding 60 others.  Until everyone in Iraq buys into the idea of a Muslim style “democracy” (is that an oxymoron?)  We will continue to have reports of car bombs and suicide bombers.
• A Sacramento State grad student is selling her virginity on eBay.  She states that she needs money for grad school.  I’ve been trying to think up something clever and witty but nothing comes to mind.  As a matter of fact, I find it kind of sad that a seemingly intelligent young woman cannot find other ways to pay for grad school.  Maybe she’s doing a masters thesis on the horniness of men?  If so, she should get an A+!

Tags: Domestic Issues, Environment // Add Comment »

September 13, 2008

As Hurricane Ike pounded Houston, Galveston, and a wide area of the Gulf Coast of Texas, Red Cross disaster relief teams were already there preparing for the worst.

Red Cross was ready for Ike:

• More than 100 mobile feeding trucks were moved into Texas this week More than a million shelf stable meals are in the state More than 1,400 disaster workers are on the ground there Preparing to open shelters and support the shelter hub system in Texas We are planning for a total capacity of 500,000 meals a day We have tens of thousands of cots, blankets and comfort kits in Texas We moved additional units of blood into North Texas in anticipation of Hurricane Ike.
• As Hurricane Ike hit during the night and early this morning, the Greater Houston Area Red Cross and Red Cross chapters across the state were poised to open shelters after the storm moves through. More than 30 disaster action team volunteers from Western North Carolina Red Cross chapters have been deployed to assist the Texas Red Cross chapters.
• Currently, in support of the State’s Hub Plan, Red Cross State-wide has more than 75 Shelters open housing more than 9,800 residents. This includes 4 shelters in the Huntsville area housing more than 1,332 residents supported by the Greater Houston Area American Red Cross as part of the state’s Shelter Hub in Huntsville, Texas.
• Once Hurricane Ike has passed the Red Cross will be opening post-disaster shelter locations for families who have been displaced from their homes by the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike. Those who have evacuated should let family members and loved ones know your plans and register with the American Red Cross Safe and Well Website. This website provides a way for those who have evacuated to register as “safe and well.” From a list of standard messages, a person can select those that he/she wants to communicate to your family members, letting them know of his/her well-being. Concerned family and friends can search the list of those who have registered themselves as “safe and well.”
• The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

Tags: Environment // Add Comment »

Tags: Domestic Issues // Add Comment »

Robert Palmer, Chic’s Tony Thompson, Duran Duran’s John and Andy Taylor. Sounds like an unbeatable combination. Only 2 hits from this group that seems made to be a hit machine.

Tags: Music // Add Comment »

No news round up tonight as I watch Hurricane Ike batter my former home state.

I’ll have one tomorrow.

Tags: Environment // Add Comment »

Tonight’s installment wasn’t any better than last nights. This Governor has a lot of work to do before she gets into a debate.

Tags: Election 2008 // 2 Comments »

Tags: Environment // Add Comment »

This will be my last post before Hurricane Ike reaches the Houston/Galveston area. We live in Houston. ( I’m Texas Liberal. Not Dr. Errington who is the owner of this blog.)  It’s unclear what conditions will be like after the hurricane. We don’t live in a flood area and we are likely to be fine. Strong winds in the city of Houston are a cause for thought. But we will come out of it okay. 

As it stands now, this storm is a very severe matter. Because of its erratic course, and because Houston has not had the recent experience New Orleans had of Hurricane Katrina, the national attention on this storm is coming only now.

It’s possible the path of the storm may change in the next few hours in a way that would minimize damage to the most populated portions of the Houston/Galveston area. Though I would not bet much on this prospect. The best scenario, that the storm shrink and weaken, is a hope we can also retain to the last moment. Yet again, the course and force of the storm appears largely set.   

Above is a picture of Galveston, Texas. You see how low-lying it is. A very strong storm surge is expected and the island may be fully undewater by this evening. I’ve visited Galveston at least every couple of months for the ten years I’ve lived in Houston. Galveston is a fifty mile drive to the south. I view Galveston as a home away from home. I hope that the city and the island are able to recover as quickly as possible. Here is some history of Galveston.

We have the things we need for an extended power outage. I think having no power for one or two weeks is our greatest concern. That this is what worries me most shows that I  am fortunate. Many people living closer to the coast are going to lose their homes. Some people will be hurt and I suppose some will die. 

Let me take this chance to express my complete contempt for the idiocy of the ongoing Presidential campaign. Maybe the one advantage of not having power for a few days is that I’ll not have to hear about the campaign. You get a clear sense of how awful and dumb the campaign is when something as potentially bad as this hurricane is at your doorstep. A leading reason it is so bad is the constant lying by John McCain and his campaign. We have more important concerns to discuss than deflecting these lies.

Just as a hurricane can be a life and death matter, so is politics in many respects. Issues of greater access to health insurance and climate change need to be addressed now.

During the hurricane and in the days after, I’ll be reading What Hath God Wrought—The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe. This book is the most recent Pulitzer Prize winner for history.

Good luck to everybody impacted by Hurricane Ike. I’ll post again on WTO? after the storm has passed, and depending on when power is back up and running.

Tags: Election 2008, Environment // Add Comment »

I’m Errington Thompson and I approve of this ad.

Tags: Election 2008 // Add Comment »

No matter what you think Gov. Sarah Palin, no matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, you have to say that her overall performance in her exclusive ABC interview with Charlie Gibson, was adequate until she got to the Bush doctrine question. She had absolutely no idea what the Bush doctrine was. If there is a legacy the Bush presidency, it would probably be this doctrine. President Bush has said, that we have the right, to preemptively strike any country we deem as a “significant” threat.

I thought she was prepped for this interview. The majority of the interview was exactly as we would’ve expected. She was strong and forceful. She was aggressive. She was somewhat demeaning when she said the word “Charlie.”

Political Animal has a few thoughts:

There are more than a few angles to consider, so let’s just take this one at a time. As Hilzoy noted last night, and as the video to the right shows, Palin doesn’t have the foggiest idea what the Bush Doctrine is. Literally, not a clue about the guiding U.S. foreign policy principle of the last seven years. When she tried to fudge it, her ignorance on the issue was even more glaring.

Second, she really didn’t want to answer an important question about U.S. strikes in Pakistan. It’s not like this was a curveball — the issue was in yesterday’s New York Times. Eventually, after trying to wiggle out of the question, Palin eventually seemed to support unilateral strikes, which contradicts the stated McCain policy.

Third, Palin believes Russia was “unprovoked” in its military incursion against Georgia. That’s just wrong. He has more here.

Newshoggers has labeled Governor Palin possibly most dangerous woman in the world (sounds like a James Bond title):

She is a novelty act not a serious candidate. The only question is if the novelty will fade before November.

About a week ago we found out that Gov. Sarah Palin had the ability to read the teleprompter. Last night, we found out that her depth of ignorance on a variety of topics was mind-boggling. I look for the McCain camp to hit ABC News and Charlie Gibson, this morning for his “unfair” questions and disrespectful tone. This is in spite of the fact that Charlie Gibson is the most sympathetic of the major anchors to the Republican party, in my opinion. It appears in fact that he even tried to help Sarah Palin and several of the questions especially on the Bush doctrine.

Update from ThinkProgress.org:

While Gibson did not get the Bush Doctrine wholly correct, he was at least on the right track. In fact, the Bush Doctrine is predicated on “preventive war” not “preemptive war” — a sharp distinction in which the former justifies launching war in an attempt to “prevent” a threat from emerging (i.e. the Iraq war), while in the latter case, the threat has already materialized.

“Preemptive war” is, as Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) once observed, something “the global community is generally tolerant of,” while “preventive attacks” — a policy that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has not rejected — “have generally been condemned.”

Indeed, as Matt Yglesias notes, Bush and McCain agree that the U.S. has “the right to use military force unilaterally even where there isn’t an imminent threat” and that “Palin’s view is sensible, so it would be interesting to learn her opinion of her running mate’s much less sensible view.”

Tags: Election 2008 // 2 Comments »

More dire warnings for Galveston and Houston.

Tags: Environment // 2 Comments »

Tonight’s evening round up –

• Thoughtful quiet reflection is in order today. Many papers have excellent coverage.
• Hurricane Ike which is currently sitting in the Gulf of Mexico is about 30 to 36 hours away from hitting the Texas coast. It is projected to strengthen to a category two or weak category three hurricane. The lights are still out for a large swath of southern Louisiana at another storm approaches. For those who are in the path Including Texas Liberal, please stay high and dry.
• I like Joe Biden. He got emotional as he talked about how his current wife restored his life. On the other hand, Governor Sarah Palin has granted her first interview with a national reporter, Charlie Gibson of ABC news. There are no surprises in her interview — at least the snippets that have been released so far.
• Senator Inhofe (Republican — Oklahoma) again links 9/11 to the war on terror — Iraq. This is one senator who will never let facts change his mind or sway his opinion.
• Why are we spending millions of dollars to build a fence? It is one of the stupidest political ploys that I’ve seen in the last eight years. Fences haven’t worked to keep out enemies since the Middle Ages. Anyway, there are more delays in the fence that will not work.
• General David Petraeus admits that he will never use the word “Victory” in association with Iraq. Progressives have said for years that victory was not definable. Now General Petraeus says approximately the same thing in a BBC interview.
• The Economic Policy Institute has come up with a new analysis which shows that we’re spending more on health insurance than we are on energy goods and services.
• The press continues to be in denial. They can’t believe they were so terribly wrong about John McCain. They can’t believe that John McCain would be running such a dishonorable campaign (his sex education commercial continues to be a low point of McCain’s campaign). Until the press is able to see McCain for who he really is — a politician — we, the American people, will continue to suffer from biased and mediocre reporting.
• Research in Motion (the makers of the Blackberry) have introduced a new flip phone. One reviewer believes that this will revolutionize the smart phone industry.
• David Broder, long time columnist for the Washington Post, reminds all of us that there’s a long time between now and the election.  Republicans appear optimistic for the first time in over two years.  Democrats, for reasons that are unclear, seem to be filled with self-doubt.  As far as I know, the election is not tomorrow.  The temporary bounce that John McCain enjoys will be just that, temporary.  We have over 50 days of campaigning and four debates.
• John Feinstein, of the Washington Post, has an excellent article on Texas Western basketball coach Don Haskins.  Coach Haskins died of congestive heart failure on Sunday.  In 1966, Texas Western played the University of Kentucky for the national championship.  Five black players versus the five white players.  Coach Haskins changed the face of basketball — forever.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Election 2008, Environment, Iraq, Security // Add Comment »

Do something!

Tags: Election 2008 // Add Comment »

I heard this story on the Randi Rhodes show a couple of days ago.  I thought that it was too stupid to be true.  There was NO way that anyone would ask rape victims to pay for their own rape kits.  That’s more than heartless.  That is like asking the robbery victim to pay for the robbery investigation.  It’s nuts.

From Political Animal:

I was thinking the exact same thing. There just had to be more to this, some exculpatory information that didn’t make Palin sound awful. The Anchorage Daily News looked into the matter and, as it turns out, the policy really was that bad.

[Former Gov. Tony Knowles (D)] broke new ground while answering a reporter’s question on whether Wasilla forced rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests when Palin was mayor. True, Knowles said.

Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill — signed into law by Knowles — that banned the practice statewide.

“There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla,” Knowles said

A May 23, 2000, article in Wasilla’s newspaper, The Frontiersman, noted that Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies regularly pay for such exams, which cost between $300 and $1,200 apiece.

“(But) the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests,” the newspaper reported.

What’s more, USA Today reported that the state sponsor of the legislation on rape kits wrote the bill with Wasilla in mind. It was that one small town, in other words, that necessitated statewide legislation to protect rape victims from this absurd fee.

A Palin spokesperson, contacted by USA Today, said the governor “does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test.”

That’s good, but there’s still the record to deal with. The town of Wasilla had rape victims to pay for their own medical exams during Palin’s mayoral tenure, and Palin’s hand-picked police chief publicly opposed the state law when it was passed in 2000.

Asked when Palin learned of the policy, and what Palin did to try to change the policy, her spokesperson chose not to respond.

Tags: Election 2008 // 4 Comments »

September 11 — I do not want to be misunderstood. I think that having a moment of silence and introspection and reflection is always good. It is as on September 10th as it is on September 11th. Memorial celebrations and remembrances are also good. But should there be more? Should we do more to honor the lives of those lost on September 11th?

Here are a few things that I thought we should do or think about to honor those who died in a senseless act of violence.

Rebuild something on the World Trade Center site. I have no idea what kind of building needs to be built. I know it should be some sort skyscraper. It has now been seven years and all we have is a large hole in the ground. Both Republicans and Democrats talk about leadership. This would be one area we could use a president to stand up and say stop the bickering and let’s build something we can all be proud of.

After we have reflected, one question that always comes up in my mind is — are we safer? Are we safer today than we were on September 11, 2001? I think the answer is yes. I don’t think that airplanes are as easy a target to hijack as they were seven years ago. Cockpit doors had been reinforced. There is more thorough screening at airports. This is good. We should be proud that we have done something constructive that should make it harder to attack us the next time.

As a country, it seems like we should demand more. The security at seaports still remains porous like our enemies couldn’t ship themselves here in a cargo container. There is very little security on our railroads. Railroads carry a huge amount of hazardous chemicals. Trains with hazardous chemicals still roll through densely populated areas. Our borders with Canada and Mexico have yet to be fully seriously addressed. We have tens of thousands of miles of coastline which also need to be addressed. It would seem that after seven years, we would have at least a plan to secure these areas that I just mentioned. But as far as I know, there is no such plan.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Although our military routed the Taliban in late 2001 and early 2002, we did not kill or capture many of the masterminds of 9/11.  Yes, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is sitting in Guantánamo Bay. Yet, so many of the other high profile Al Qaeda agents and leaders are still on the loose. After seven years, this seems to be a glaring piece of unfinished business.

Finally, as I complete my reflection, I don’t think a free society will ever be invulnerable to terrorism. Once you lock down a society so tight that there never be a car bomb or any type of terrorist act, you have to trample all over civil liberties. So I don’t think it’s practical. We want to be able to freely move throughout our country. So we have to balance safety with freedom. Maybe this is what needs more public discussion. Maybe this (safety - freedom) is what we all should be thinking about on this September 11th and future September 11’s to come.

Tags: 9-11, Bin Laden, Terrorism // 1 Comment »

Now, that I have posted this for everyone to see the whole phrase, it should be clear what Senator Barack Obama meant and who he was talking about.

Tags: Election 2008 // Add Comment »

I usually agree with most of what Keith Olbermann has to say in his Special Comment. He is usually blunt and to the point, pointing to something glaringly obvious that has been ignored to some extent. This comment is about 9/11, the Republicans, and Presidential Candidate John McCain. I completely ignored McCain’s comment that he knows how to capture Bin Laden. I guess I shouldn’t have.

I saw it as the bluster of a campaign, but this is one subject no American should bluster about. This is important. If McCain knows how to capture Osama Bin Laden, isn’t it his duty as an American citizen to tell the President and/or to tell Generals in the Pentagon? Heck, isn’t it his duty to post the information on a blog or stand in the street and shout the information until somebody listens to him? I’m just askin’.

The transcript of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment:

As promised, a Special Comment about our sad anniversary tomorrow.

Or, more correctly, what our sad anniversary tomorrow has been turned into by the presidential administration, and the current Republican candidates for President and Vice President.

This is supposed to be a day of remembrance. Remembrance of the attack, remembrance of the national unity which followed it.

Most important of all, remembrance of the dead.

But 9/11 has become a brand name. A Republican campaign slogan. Propaganda of the lowest form. 9/11 has become 9/11 with a trademark logo. [Read more →]

Tags: Election 2008 // 5 Comments »