Open thread

Disco Saturday Night. Read More......

Global warming: UNEQUIVOCAL

No surprise to anyone who actually pays attention to facts and science -- global warming is "uequivocal":

In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.

They said the world was in for centuries of climbing temperatures, rising seas and shifting weather patterns — unavoidable results of the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.

But their report, released here on Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said warming and its harmful consequences could be substantially blunted by prompt action.

Prompt action is literally needed to save the world. Failing to act is not an option. Read More......

Jon Stewart skewers Dick Cheney and his lesbian activist out-of-wedlock pregnant gay-married-kinda daughter

From Crooks and Liars. It's a keeper. Here's a snippet:

"Let's say Strom Thurmond, who advocated for segregation, let's say he ended up having a black daughter. Would it not point out the rank hypocrisy of his political positions and the cowardice in not fighting for the human rights for your own flesh and blood?"

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This is the face of the Republican party

The headline says it all. Though I have to quote this paragraph from the story:

Senate Republicans have also been squeamish about Mr. Reid’s decision to debate the Iraq policy in the form of legislation, which would be sent to the president if passed as such. They see such a move as overly confrontational...

Get that? Republicans think that it's overly confrontational for the Congress to actually consider the situation in Iraq. Losing both Houses of Congress wasn't enough of a lesson for the Republicans. May the American people teach them an even bigger lesson in November of 2008. Read More......

"Deadliest single bombing" yet in Baghdad - 135 dead

Sure, the situation is progressing in Iraq, but in the very wrong direction:

A huge truck bomb killed 121 people and wounded 226 in a busy market in a mainly Shi'ite area of central Baghdad on Saturday, in the deadliest single bombing in the capital since the 2003 U.S.-led war.

The blast in Sadriya shattered food stalls and smashed the facades of shops, setting some on fire.

UPDATED from Reuters -- this is really, really horrible:

A suicide bomber killed 135 people on Saturday in the deadliest single bombing in Iraq since the 2003 war, driving a truck laden with one ton of explosives into a market in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad.

The blast, which Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed on Saddam Hussein supporters and other Sunni militants, shattered fruit and vegetable stalls, caved in shopfronts and left the smashed bodies of shoppers strewn in the street.

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Reaction to the 2007 DNC Winter Meeting

The crowd watching Obama speak yesterday in the grand ballroom of the Hilton (click image to see larger version).


Our video reaction from yesterday's events is here. Here's a little more on my take:

Top level, my reaction was we’ve really got a great field of candidates this time through. I heard speeches today from three or four candidates whom I would be happy to vote for. I don’t think that I could have said that at this point in the 2004 election. What I saw was a lot of similarity in the speeches, but difference in delivery and degree of depth. Nearly every major Democratic candidate is:

• Against the escalation of the war
• For universal healthcare
• For addressing global warming
• For alternative energy sources

The difference in degree was more on how we get there. For example, in Iraq, do we go the political route, getting the Congress on record against the war even if it doesn’t cut off funding? Hillary says yes, others said no.

So where there are degrees of difference in policy, we got a preview of how it’s going to play out over the course of the campaign. From John Edwards' speech:

This is not the time for political calculation. This is the time for political courage. Stand up.
...
And we are Democrats, the party of action – not reaction. We are Democrats, the party of principle – not appeasement. The time for half-measures, empty promises, and sweet rhetoric is gone. Now is the time for courage, decisiveness and moral leadership.

The first quote is clearly a knock on the Hillary approach to politics - calculating and highly political. The second about taking action as opposed to “sweet rhetoric” - wonder who that was referencing?

What this means is that this primary is going to be more about personality than policy. In that sense, this is a wide-open field. What this also means is that these candidates are going to have to appeal to the Democratic primary voter on an emotional level first and on a rational level second. So how did they do? Obama was as compelling a speaker as he’s been billed. He had the room in the palm of his hand. There were hundreds of people there, and at points he had complete silence and attention - hard to do in a room of competitive partisans.

Having said that, Edwards' speech (video), and even Hillary at points, had similar command of the room. Edwards was at least as compelling as I expected, if not more so. Watching him again last night I’m reminded of what I like about him - while I see his "polished" appearance and manner as a little produced at times, he erases that with what I think are compelling messages that come from his heart. From labor to health care to Iraq, Edwards wasn’t afraid to take a stand on what he believes.”It is time to be patriotic about something other than war.” Think about that for a moment - patriotism has been co-opted by the Republican party and twisted into a propaganda line to shut down dialog as our country has been taken down a path of fiscal and foreign policy insanity. I want a candidate who isn’t compromised and truly has the ability to take that back without hesitation.

The other point of distinction between candidates who otherwise agree on the substantive issues is operations and organization. If each of the candidates is saying roughly the same thing, it’s going to be who executes best who gains advantage. In that, Obama has a lot of catching up to do. Very quickly both John Edwards and Hillary Clinton had their DNC speeches up on YouTube and their websites. Even this morning Obama’s website and YouTube don’t have his speech up there - a substantial missed opportunity with no excuse. When people talk about an “inexperienced candidate” it’s not just the gaffes that they make on the campaign trail, it’s failure to quickly capitalize on opportunity also.

Overall, the energy of the 2006 electoral victory remains - there was a palpable sense that the 2008 election is an enormous opportunity for us as Democrats to take back our country. It was a great and positive way to kick off the 2008 election cycle.

Thanks again to the folks and PoliticsTV for helping out with our video. Read More......

Pentagon official, who attacked law firms that represent detainees, resigns

Oh, there's more to this story. No one in George Bush's administration is forced to resign because he accused someone of being un-American for defending the Bill of Rights. That takes place on a daily basis, usually from the White House. I'd love to know what really happened here. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Bush meets with the House Democrats today..."private" meeting...no press (update being that Bush's speech was live on C-SPAN, but the Q and A is private). But, no doubt, we'll hear every detail.

What else is stirring around? Read More......

Dell slapped with lawsuit over $1 Billion in kickbacks

The GOP money machine from Austin, Texas is in for some troubled times these days and Michael Dell, who could never heap enough praise on Bush is back in charge. So here we apparently have yet another pro-business GOP activist company who somehow was unable to run a profitable business business without sneaky and illegal back room business deals. If the allegations are true, it will be hard to recover for the already drifting company. It would also explain much of the drift and decline, because $1 billion per year into the program goes a long way and is not easy to replace. Let's see how well our Republicans friends at Dell do now that they will have to compete just like everyone else. Read More......

GOP Governor Perry of Texas orders anti-cancer vaccine

This is going to get interesting. Perry, who was just reelected in 2006, used an executive order to bypass the Texas Legislature where the religious extremists were positioned to squash any public use of this vaccine.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade — meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 — will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.

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Open thread

I'm exhausted. Long day at the DNC meeting. I think Joe, Rob and I each took in a lot, and will give you our larger impressions tomorrow. I think everyone was impressed by Obama and Edwards. I finally got to watch Edwards' speech tonight, it's only his Web site. Wow. He did extremely well. Anyway, more tomorrow. Read More......