The first-ever call to tech support, circa 1450

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The wonder that is Sushi

Chris and Joelle have two cats. Nasdaq is the big black one, Sushi the grey one. Nasdaq is a bit more, how shall we say... sluggish, than Sushi. Thus, it's somewhat easier to photograph Sushi in various poses. Nasdaq's poses tend to involve sleeping and rolling on her back. So this week, we'll take a stab at Sushi. Next week, I'll make an effort to do a Nasdaq exposé.



Sushi as king of the mountain. He apparently learned this trick a while back - climbing trees - yet only does it a few times a year. I was privy to one such time.



The intensely purposeful stare. Usually this look takes before right before Sushi pounces on Nasdaq.



Unknown. Sushi was cleaning himself when all of a sudden this happened. Nasdaq has a penchant for rolling over on her back to get attention, but this was something a tad different. It's possibly Sushi's homage to Michael Jackson, but no one knows for sure.



King of the forest Part Deux.



This scene is a tad more complicated than it looks. Yes, Sushi is cleaning himself. But he's also staking out my suitcase, conveniently located under the towel, to make it clear to Nasdaq that I am his, and not hers. Nasdaq did, in a moment of bravery (and stupidity) take a quick nap last night on my suitcase, without event. Previous visits have proven that such a move usually does not end well for Nasdaq. Read More......

Obama called police officer involved in Prof. Gates incident

This took on a life of its own over the past couple days -- starting with Obama's answer to Lynn Sweet's question at the press conference about the arrest of Prof. Henry Gates in Cambridge.

Today, Obama tried to quell the controversy by calling the police officer -- then announcing it himself in the White House press briefing room. I've had CNN on all day, and they've been breathlessly reporting every development.

Obama hopes this is a "teachable moment." Probably, the smartest and most insightful analysis on this subject was the one by Pam Spaulding. She holds everyone involved accountable. Pam has the ability to cut through issues and arguments in a way that few others can. It's because she has common sense, a rare commodity these days. Read More......

The krux of the health care dilemma for Obama

The NYT has an interesting piece today looking at a cross-section of Americans, and their feelings about the health care reform debate. To the degree you can trust the Times' cross-section, the responses are interesting, and very much alike. One pretty well encapsulated the article, and a lot of what I suspect people truly are feeling around the country:

Liz Wessen, 32, a manager for a market research firm in Denver, supported Mr. Obama in November. But that good will does not negate her nervousness about the money being spent in Washington.

“My only concern is that this comes on the heels of the stimulus package,” Ms. Wessen said from her home in the Highlands neighborhood. “Where is this money supposed to be coming from? I’m not sure if this is the best time to fix another enormous problem.”

Watching the president, she said she was pleased to hear that the Democrats wanted to prevent insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and to allow those who change jobs to hold on to their coverage. But she said she wanted more specifics and wished that Mr. Obama would dictate terms to Congress rather than merely prod lawmakers to act.

“I think the press conference was more convincing people of his motives than it was to actually explain the program,” Ms. Wessen said. “I expected it to be more.”

Let's distill this:

1. Obama voter.
2. Concerns about costs. All the Republican talk about the stimulus being too large, and a waste, has sunk in, and may be affecting the health care debate - this is why the administration not fighting back earlier to defend the stimulus is now coming at a price. This is a point Joe and I make a lot - Democrats often fail to recognize that their actions, or inactions, on any particular issue, have implications far beyond the current debate.
3. Uncertain about "the times" - meaning, the economy has her rattled, and thus she's not particularly in the mood for more change, more uncertainty.
4. Details, details, details, where are they?
5. She particularly wants details from Obama himself - lead, don't follow.

Honestly, I still don't understand what the various bills are about. I have no idea how the legislation will benefit me specifically. And I have no idea whether or not I'll be taxed more to pay for it. I think those are questions every American is rightfully asking. Read More......

Ousted Honduran President returned to his country -- for a second

Drama on the border of Nicaragua and Honduras today:

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya, vowing to return to power, took a symbolic step inside Honduras on Friday but quickly stepped back across the border again to avoid being arrested.

Accompanied by a pack of international reporters and television cameras, the ousted leader in his trademark cowboy hat took a step or two inside Honduran territory in the small town of Las Manos on the border with Nicaragua.

Pausing to give live telephone interviews, he approached the chain dividing the two central American nations, stepping briefly over and holding the chain over his head in triumph for a moment before returning to the Nicaraguan side.

Zelaya really turned this into a media event. CNN covered it live. Not exactly sure what it accomplished, but he did get into his homeland ever so briefly. And, not sure what impact this has on the negotiations underway to resolve this situation. Read More......

Krugman says Obama did great at presser, doing the right thing on Medicare

I think part of what makes this battle so difficult is just how complicated the issue is. I know Joe and I are both constantly wracking our brains, trying to figure out what the various "plans" even are, let alone what the real state of play is overall, from moment to moment. Thus, we rely on outside experts we trust, such as Krugman, to tell us when to be pleased and when to be annoyed. Krugman says be pleased:

The talking heads on cable TV panned President Obama’s Wednesday press conference. You see, he didn’t offer a lot of folksy anecdotes.

Shame on them. The health care system is in crisis. The fate of America’s middle class hangs in the balance. And there on our TVs was a president with an impressive command of the issues, who truly understands the stakes.

Mr. Obama was especially good when he talked about controlling medical costs. And there’s a crucial lesson there — namely, that when it comes to reforming health care, compassion and cost-effectiveness go hand in hand...

I don’t know how many people understand the significance of Mr. Obama’s proposal to give MedPAC, the expert advisory board to Medicare, real power. But it’s a major step toward reducing the useless spending — the proliferation of procedures with no medical benefits — that bloats American health care costs.

Contrast this to Ben Smith, who thought Obama wasn't good at all the other night. Read More......

Headline that says it all: Will Blue Dogs Help GOP Extremists Destroy Obama's Presidency Over Their Donations From Insurance Industry CEOs?

From Howie Klein:

Yesterday Obama was at a town hall meeting in Ohio talking about real reform. He was inspiring to Democrats who were listening. But either shills like Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu, John Barrow, Jim Cooper, Dan Boren, Allen Boyd aren't listening... or they aren't Democrats.

Whenever I hear people say that it's happening too soon, I think that's a little odd. We've been talking about health care reform since the days of Harry Truman. How could it be too soon? I don't think it's too soon for the families who've seen their premiums rise faster than wages year after year. It's not too soon for the businesses forced to drop coverage or shed workers because of mounting health care expenses. It's not too soon for taxpayers asked to close widening deficits that stem from rising health care costs-- costs that threaten to leave our children with a mountain of debt.

Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington, but it's not soon enough for the American people. We can get this done. We don't shirk from a challenge.

Shameful that progressives have to resort to this, but with enough die-hard conservative Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee working with reactionary Republicans like Roy Blunt, Joe Barton, John Shadegg and Marsha Blackburn in opposing Democratic Party values and real reform, the House leadership is considering bypassing the committee and taking the legislation right to the floor. Forcing sleazy lowlife scumbags like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Mike Ross (Blue Dog- AR), Jane Harman (Blue Dog-CA), Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH) and Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN) to come out of the closet as full-blown conservatives and vote with Republicans against health care reform on the floor of Congress will, in all likelihood, end their shameful and freakish political careers. Why can't we have more Democrats like this one today (see how long it takes you to guess who it is)?

The Democratic Party represents the people... The Democratic Party puts human rights and human welfare first... These Republican gluttons of privilege are cold men. They are cunning men... They want a return of the Wall Street economic dictatorship.

Something happens to Republican leaders when they get control of the government... Republicans in Washington have a habit of becoming curiously deaf to the voice of the people. They have a hard time hearing what the ordinary people of the country are saying. But they have no trouble at all hearing what Wall Street is saying. They are able to catch the slightest whisper from big business and the special interests.

Republican candidates are apparently trying to sing the American voters to sleep with a lullaby about unity... They want to kind of unity that benefits the National Association of Manufacturers... the real estate trusts... [the] selfish interests... They don't want unity. They want surrender. And I am here to tell you people that I will not surrender.

Some things are worth fighting for... We must fight isolationists and reactionaries, the profiteers and the privileged class... Our primary concern is for the little fellow. We think the big boys have always done very well, taking care of themselves... It is the business of government to see that the little fellow gets a square deal.

That's Harry Truman, campaigning in 1948-- unfortunately not Harry Reid in 2009.

That was over fifty years ago. And, we're still waiting. Yet, Hill Democrats, with their own great health care benefits, think people should keep waiting. They're in no rush. They all have great health care benefits. Be interesting to see how some of them fared in the private market. Not so well, I'd imagine.

It's not an understatement to say that our current system is killing and bankrupting people. Why are Democrats -- and it is Democrats -- making us wait? Read More......

Southern Poverty Law Center calls on CNN to remove Lou Dobbs from the air over "birther" comments

The SPLC, for anyone who isn't aware, is one of the nation's premiere organizations that tracks extremists such as white supremacists and the Klan. The fact that they're weighing in on this one is very interesting.

One thing that I was wondering about, before I read the letter (below), was the "so what?" factor. Meaning, yeah it's absurd to say that Obama wasn't really born in the states, but so what? We won the election, and anyone who is going to be believe Obama isn't legitimate isn't going to believe us any more if we get rid of Lou Dobbs. And in any case, isn't Lou Dobbs permitted to be a bit of an idiot at times (often)? Then I read SPLC's letter. Do read the excerpt below. I did not realize that the birther rumors, like many of the rumors Dobbs promotes, have their origins in the racist right. That is why SPLC is getting involved, and that is a disturbing trend for CNN's Dobbs.

An excerpt of SPLC's letter to CNN head Jonathan King:

As he has in several other instances, Mr. Dobbs, in taking up the birthers' claims, is adopting an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that originated on the radical racist right. As Gawker.com has reported, this particular conspiracy theory was first developed by an open anti-Semite and circulated by right-wing extremists who cannot accept the fact that a black man has been elected president of the United States. Among its adherents was neo-Nazi James von Brunn, the alleged murderer of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., this June. Von Brunn had helped spread the birthers' claims on the Internet and attacked the "dishonest & conspiratorial Media" for not taking them up.

This is not the first time Mr. Dobbs has pushed racist conspiracy theories or defamatory falsehoods about immigrants. We wrote you in 2007 to bring to your attention his utterly false claim that 7,000 new cases of leprosy had appeared in the United States in a recent three-year period, due at least in part to immigrants. (The real number, according to official statistics, was about 400. Mr. Dobbs took his spurious information from the late right-wing extremist, Madeleine Cosman.) In addition, Mr. Dobbs has reported as fact the so-called Aztlan conspiracy, which claims that undocumented Mexican immigrants are part of a plot to "reconquer" the American Southwest. He has suggested there is something to a related conspiracy theory that claims the governments of Mexico, the United States and Canada are secretly planning to merge into the "North American Union." He has falsely claimed that "illegal aliens" fill one third of American prison and jail cells. And Mr. Dobbs has routinely disparaged, on CNN's air, those who have had the integrity to point out the falsity of these and similar claims.

Respectable news organizations should not employ reporters willing to peddle racist conspiracy theories and false propaganda. It's time for CNN to remove Mr. Dobbs from the airwaves.

And here is Jon Stewart's commentary on Dobb's coverage of this, after the jump.


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A two minute explanation of the warped and cynical GOP strategy, led by the RNC (Rush, Newt and Liz Cheney)

A very cogent explanation of what's going on in Washington right now:

I often wonder if any of the insiders (a.k.a The Villagers) will actually tell the story of what's happening and why it matters. Howard Fineman did a pretty good job in under two minutes. He nailed it. That's what the Democrats are up against. They should be rolling the GOP. Instead, Blue Dogs in the House and Max Baucus/Kent Conrad in the Senate, are undermining the Democratic agenda. Read More......

The economy is better. But....

The Washington Post finds "glimmers of hope" as the Dow passed 9,000:

Companies that a few months ago were too fearful even to project their future earnings are now seeing glimmers of hope in the year ahead. The rate of home sales has risen for three straight months. And the number of people drawing unemployment insurance benefits has fallen back to April levels, having receded for the third straight week.

All those recent signals sent the stock market surging Thursday as investors sensed that the recession could be in its waning days. Many suspect that even if no recovery is imminent, the steep economic decline has either already ended or will soon.

That confidence drove the stock market, as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, up 2.3 percent Thursday -- continuing a rally that has driven the broad measure up 44 percent since March 9 and 11 percent in the past two weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average has gained 39 percent since March 9 and closed above 9000 for the first time since January. European markets rose by a similar amount on Thursday, and Asian markets opened up in early trading Friday.

The job market still sucks or as the Post article notes "remains in terrible shape." Reuters also has a warning:

For the past six months or so, Wall Street has been bracing for what many fear may be the next shoe to drop on the already battered U.S. economy: a U.S. commercial real estate bust that could rival the housing market collapse.

Yet, lenders have been keeping that shoe in the closet -- forestalling foreclosures by extending loans, despite rapidly rising mortgage default rates.

"In today's environment, it's obviously not very attractive to foreclose on a borrower," said Matthew Anderson, co-founder of real estate consulting services firm Foresight Analytics.

Interesting. I think a lot of home-owners wish that it wasn't so attractive to foreclose. If that "other shoe" drops, sounds like it will hit hard.

And, on the TODAY Show, Suze Orman confirmed things are better than a year ago, But, warned us not to get too cocky:

(Suze is also funny. Kate Perry, who sings "I kissed a girl" was also on the TODAY Show this morning, hence the little joke about Meredith.) Read More......

Democrats are doing the GOP's dirty work on health care reform

With the Senate now putting off a vote until the fall, and Blue Dogs in the House still trying to delay things there, GOP Senator DeMint sums the situation up nicely:

"I am very pleased my Democrat colleagues have now rejected the president's strategy to force through a bad bill before anyone has had a chance to even read it," said Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who has emerged as one of Obama's chief Republican critics.

In other words, thanks for doing our dirty work. Read More......

Small Democrat Syndrome

A few words have been changed to protect the dogs:

Although our domesticated Democratic member of Congress is very different in many ways to their ancestor, the wolf, he has inherited much of his ancestor's instinctual behaviors. A part of this instinctual blue print comes the desire to be part of a group or pack. Although most Democrats are more than happy to be the follower in their caucus, if there is no obvious leader, or the Democrat is getting signals from his leadership that he is the leader of the pack, then the Democrat will have no option but to fill the role, as this is how life is played out in the political world.

Over time, the Democrat may show behaviors that to the experienced eye would be considered dominant, however, to the Democratic leadership these behaviours are seen as either breed specific, for example, 'that's just how Blue Dogs are', or part and parcel of the Democrat's personality, e.g., 'Senator Baucus has always been this way'. This kind of behavior would be a cause for concern if seen in the Republican caucus, but somehow overlooked, or not considered serious in many Democratic circles.

There are a number of behaviors that are common to non-leadership Democrats acting dominantly, so much so, that this type of behavior observed in Democratic members of Congress has inherited the label 'small Democrat syndrome' or 'little Democrat syndrome'. Some of the common behaviors that characterize 'small Democratic syndrome' are listed below.

Your Democrat has developed the habit of sitting on you, or jumping on you, or next to you, when he pleases.
Your Democrat does not allow you near him when he is running for re-election.
Your Democrat tries excessively to get your attention.
Your Democrat growls when you attempt to move him from his favorite committee.
Your Democrat is generally stubborn and refuses to follow commands given to him.
Your Democrat displays an exaggerated reaction to being spurned and castigated for his unruly behavior, characterized by constant barking, or destructive behavior.

Much can be done to turn this problem around, however, Democratic congressional and presidential leaders must first consider the role they play in encouraging this type of behavior in their Democrats. Leaders must come to realize that their small breed Democrats are in fact animals and not little humans.

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Majority of Americans view Sarah Palin negatively as she prepares to leave office

There is hope for us after all.

Overall, the new poll found that 53 percent of Americans view Palin negatively and 40 percent see her in positive terms, her lowest level in Post-ABC polling since she first appeared on the national stage last summer as Sen. John McCain's running mate....

She debuted at last year's Republican National Convention as a popular figure, with nearly six in 10 Americans holding a favorable opinion of her. But public confidence in her dropped as the November election neared, and it has slipped even further in the months since.

Republicans and GOP-leaning independents continue to rank Palin among the top three contenders in the run-up to 2012, however, with 70 percent of Republicans viewing her in a positive light in the new poll. But her support within the GOP has deteriorated from its pre-election levels, including a sharp drop in the number holding "strongly favorable" impressions of her.

Anyone still calling themselves a "Republican" would no doubt approve of Palin. But what percent of the country is that? 20%? Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

One more week til the House is supposed to go home for summer vacation. We already know the Senate won't finish health care before it recesses the week after. So, the pressure is on. While it's clear the GOPers will do anything to stop health care reform, partly because they want to damage Obama and partly to serve the insurance companies. But, Democrats have the power. It's the Democrats who can kill reform. And, House Democrats who push delay, Blue Dogs and some freshmen, are handing power to the Republicans. That's the reality. Although, no one has ever said that reality matters on Capitol Hill.

We'll keep monitoring the developments... Read More......

iPhone app - 'Squash the $treet'

Cute, but I'd rather have one of the supposed adults in Washington actually step up and take real action. Asking for too much?

There are five ways to play, including “Squash Wall Street,” where you squash them as they flee their offices to try to make a getaway, and the “Bull Run,” where the bankers run through the streets en masse, like bulls through the streets of Pamplona!

The game has other clever winks to Street-savvy players: It always starts with the ringing of the bell, like the bell that heralds the start of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and they use Wall Street Journal font throughout. And you’ll get a kick out of the company names: Shadygroup, Guilded Hacks, Leave ‘Em Brothers and Ferral Wench.

Revenge: This time, it’s digital!

The bankers scream like little girls when they get squashed, something you’ll find gratifying or offensive, depending on your level of recession rage and proximity to the situation.

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UAE issues spyware update for BlackBerry

Remember this the next time Wall Street or corporate America threatens to leave the country if they don't get what they want. They can expect this and more in those dreamy locations they talk about so often. Also, if RIM has a clue they will severely punish the business partner that did this though the fact that it was so easy to do doesn't say much about the overall environment.

BlackBerry users in the Mideast business centers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi who were directed by their service provider to upgrade their phones were actually installing spy software that could allow outsiders to peer inside, according to the device's maker.

While many questions about the breach remain unanswered, including who ordered it sent and why, analysts say the disclosure highlights the security risks posed by increasingly popular smart phones like the BlackBerry.

Richard M. Smith, an Internet security and privacy consultant at Boston Software Forensics, said smart phones are "the perfect personal spying devices" because as tiny computers they can be programmed to send back a broad range of information.

"This is an evolving threat. As the technology advances, the security problems follow behind," he said.

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Uganda to outlaw female circumcision

But as Chris just said to me, will they enforce it? Read More......