More Koala updates from Australian heat wave

I finally read Chris' post yesterday about the Koalas in Australia that are approaching humans out of desperation after suffering through four days of temperatures in the 100s (40C). Here are a few more articles (here and here and here), and above is another cute photo, this time the koala approached some people biking on a highway - it was apparently desperate for water.

As for the stoats (ermine) in the UK, they're a wee bit happier with the snow. Read the rest of this post...

Report from the Press Conference

Wow. Barack Obama is smart. Okay, not like I didn't know it, but to watch him in action, answering questions in a smart, sophisticated manner was impressive.

Overall, the press conference was pretty cool. I can't pretend it wasn't. I got to the White House around 6:45 pm and had to wait in line to clear security. After I got in, I had to head to the lower press office, which is right off the Brady Press Briefing Room. I worked with Jim Brady for eight years and that will always be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I love the guy and had the great fortune of being in that room when it was named for him back in February of 2000.

After I got my seat assignment, I went up to the main building and into the East Room. It was packed. All the media types were there. Valerie Jarrett and Bill Burton were standing behind me.


Obama came to the podium at 8:00 pm on the dot. The guy knows his stuff. He gave real answers to the 12 or so questions that were asked. I was surprised by a couple of the lame questions. I used to think Chuck Todd was brilliant, but not as a White House reporter. And, the Washington Post reporter wasted his question on A-Rod. I did think Obama took several opportunities to note that Republicans are responsible for the current mess. That's important, especially when those very Republicans are fighting Obama's efforts to save the economy.

It was great when Sam Stein from Huffington Post got to ask a question. I figured there was a chance when Sam got seated in the front row. Just shows the Obama team understands that the media has changed. And, I'm sure it irritated some of the traditional media types.

After the event, it was funny (in an annoying way) to hear some prominent reporters cranking about Obama filibustering by taking too long, in their view, to answer each question. Yes, they actually used that word - filibuster - because the president gave long thoughtful answers. Now, I find it very interesting that reporters would say that Obama was filibustering by answering questions with real answers when they won't say that the Republican Senators are filibustering the stimulus package, when that's actually what Republican Senators are doing. I talked to one WH reporter after who was mocking those who called Obama's answers filibusters. He noted that Bush never gave answers like that - i.e., intelligent ones.

And, I got to talk to Helen Thomas:


I didn't get to ask a question, but if I did, I assure you all it would have been more substantive and relevant than what Chuck Todd or the Wash. Post reporter asked. Here's one that John and I came up with, it was one of the five questions I had ready:

Last week, thirty-six of the forty-one Republican Senators voted for an amendment that would strip all spending from the economic stimulus package, and instead rely only on tax cuts in their version of the stimulus. How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?

We tend to take the issues seriously. It's not just a game for us. Anyway, I'm glad I got to go and think it's good for the progressive blogs to be present at the White House.

Actual proof I was there, courtesy of CNN (I'm in the blue jacket and blue shirt, to Ed Henry's right):
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Obama press conference open thread

Obama did an excellent job, and not just in comparison to Bush. He did a good job of answering the questions, and presented a solid case for the stimulus. He even took a few swipes at the Republicans, finally. Was it just me, or did Obama hint that another major stimulus package might be on the way later this year?

Huff Post. It's a brand new day.

Joe is in the 5th row, to Obama's left.

Chuck Todd's hair. We like.

Hey, I just realized - I'm not yelling or throwing things at the TV.

A little drawn out in the answers, that Obama.

Obama's opening statement here.

Wow, complete sentences, multi-syllabic words, and the word "nuclear" pronounced correctly. There goes the religious right vote.

Everybody drinks every time Joe pops up on camera. Read the rest of this post...

Senate blocks GOP filibuster of stimulus bill

Of course, it wasn't a real filibuster - you'll note the article doesn't even call it one - because the Democrats aren't making the Republicans launch a REAL filibuster, in which the Republicans would actually have to stand up on the Senate floor and talk all day long, halting all progress on the economy and every other piece of legislation in the Senate. That might embarrass the Republicans, and expose them for what they really are. And we wouldn't want that. Read the rest of this post...

ACLU blasts Obama

So far, the gays, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU have already publicly gotten ticked at Obama. And we're only in our third week. NYT:

President Obama had harshly criticized the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees during the campaign, and has broken with the previous administration on such questions as whether to keep open the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But a lawyer for the government, Douglas N. Letter, made the same state-secrets argument on Monday, startling several judges on the panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.

“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.

“The change in administration has no bearing?” she asked.

“No, your honor,” he said once more. The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

That produced an angry response from Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case.

“This is not change,” he said in a statement. “This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama’s Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again.”

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I beat Joe by 17 years

Man, the things you find when you're packing to move... I'm pretty sure this was taken 17 years ago.

Don't forget to watch Joe tonight - he'll be attending Obama's press conference at the White House. And thanks for the suggested questions in the comments to the earlier post, they were quite helpful. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman: Cuts to Senate stimulus package just threw out 600,000 jobs

Nobel economist Paul Krugman:

[T]o appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts....

The plan should have been at least 50% larger.

Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan....

My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.

The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it’s clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no. This is really, really bad.

My guess is no too. Just look at the fall out from the TARP bill. This is our one big chance. Read the rest of this post...

Clift: Howard Dean for HHS

UPDATE: Leahy is endorsing Dean as well.

Not a bad way to excite your base. Especially now that we know that the GOP will never be Obama's base, no matter how hard he tries.

As for this:

Dean's nomination probably won't happen because he crossed swords with Rahm Emanuel over the allocation of resources during the lead-up to the congressional elections of '06. Dean was the Democratic Party chairman and focused on implementing his brainchild, a 50-state strategy for a party that had narrowed its electoral base to 16 states. Emanuel was leading the Democratic effort in the House to regain the majority. He wanted money targeted to districts where Democrats had a real chance to win while Dean, despite being the brunt of several shouting matches, stuck to his script of spreading money and staff around even into states Democrats wouldn't win in the short term.

The Obama team wasn't a fan of Dean's either during the '08 presidential campaign, faulting him for letting the controversy over Florida and Michigan drag on way too long. You would think that Dean would have been vindicated by now, but that's not how Washington works.

Get over it. There are 3 Republicans in the Cabinet. We can afford one real Democrat. Read the rest of this post...

Obama Signs Up New Hire For Big Blog Outreach Gig

Greg Sargent has learned that President Obama has hired longtime online guru Jesse Lee to be his blog outreach coordinator.

The Obama team has hired the well-known blog online operative Jesse Lee as the new White House Online Programs Director, a White House source confirms.

Lee is well respected in the blogosphere, having run the house blog for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, more recently, done blog outreach for the DNC during last year’s presidential campaign. Lee’s gig will be to integrate the Online Programs department with other departments and agencies, as well as to handle most blog outreach.

We love Jesse (which is probably the kiss of death). He was excellent as the blog outreach guy at the DCCC, and did a great job with the Obama campaign (via the DNC) when they let him.

Here's Markos' take:

I asked Markos Moulitsas what he thinks of the new hire. He said that the key questions are how closely linked the new department will be to the White House’s communications shop and whether the blog outreach director will have real access to key White House decision-makers.

“We are media, and should be treated as communications outlets,” Moulitsas said.

I don't totally agree with Markos. While we are media, we're more than media. We are activists and advocates too - akin to the ACLU, the unions, the gay lobby, and more. We're not even partisan media, such as the Nation, in my view. We're far more activist-oriented, and, I'd argue, many of us are long-time political operatives as well (though I've also worked as a professional journalist).

All that is to say that bloggers are a bit of a mutt, and should be treated as such (after all, am I a blogger, a liberal activist, a 24-year-Washington-insider, a gay rights leader, a prominent Greek-American, or a journalist?) . If you corner us off with the mainstream media, you'll be missing out on harnessing our advocacy. But if you treat us simply as activists, you miss out on our media megaphone. In the end, the one thing that would hamper Jesse's job, in my view, is to treat him as a techie. Blog outreach long-since graduated from the days when it was the domain of the computer guy. The computer guy is a genius, but he's not a political genius. The blog outreach person in any organization has to have political and media savvy, and good 'ole activist/organizing sense. He has to be multi-disciplinary, and thus needs to straddle several departments, with a leg in media, political, and even tech (I know, 3 legs).

And most importantly, he has to be connected to what's going on in the White House. It's of no use, to us or the WH, having someone work with us who isn't really authorized to speak on behalf, negotiate on behalf, of the administration. We are here to help, when our interests coincide. But we need someone who's truly part of the WH team, and not simply passing us press releases. Jesse is that man. If they let him. Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay has been credentialed to attend Obama's press conference at the White House tonight

I hear he's going to ask about boxers vs. briefs.

Seriously, it should be interesting. I think Joe was a bit surprised to receive the credentials (he requested them this weekend). The first blogger to ever be credentialed at a White House press conference was our friend Garrett Graff, in 2005 (CORRECTION, and NSFW link: Garrett was the first blogger not working as a male hooker (as far as we know), though a lot of the WH press corps... oh never mind.) But Joe might be the first blogger of this administration, depending on who else was credentialed for tonight. In any case, on the chance that President Obama is intrigued by the notion of a blogger sitting in the East Room, and calls on Joe, feel free to suggest your questions for Joe to pose to Obama in the comments to this post.

UPDATE: I stand corrected. Our favorite MW Jeff Gannon did not start blogging until after his 15 minutes were long since over. Read the rest of this post...

Tony Perkins is vewy vewy angwy at the Republicans

Religious right leader Tony Perkins is getting all theatrical over the fact that the Republicans didn't act Republican enough during the last four years. In specific, Perkins thinks we should have been focusing much more as a country on banning abortion and gay marriage. Forget about the economy, forget about Iraq, forget about Osama. Abortion and gays are all that matter to God's bigots who control the Republican party. Kind of funny, however, is that Perkins sees a ray of hope with Obama. Uh huh. I don't recall Obama saying anything about putting gay-bashing and the repeal of Roe v Wade at the top, or even the bottom, of his agenda. Then again, Perkins always has had a bit of an air of drama queen about him. Read the rest of this post...

Merkel phones Pope about Holocaust-denying Bishop

Good for her. I have to say, the Germans have outdone themselves in taking a rather outspoken stance against the Pope's rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying Bishop.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Pope Benedict XVI Sunday over a Holocaust denier whom the pope welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church last month.

Neither side seems to have shifted its position over Bishop Richard Williamson, who, shortly before the pope lifted his excommunication, denied the Nazis had systematically murdered six million Jews during World War II.

"It was a very constructive conversation," the German government and Vatican said in a joint statement about the call. Merkel and the pope expressed respect for each others' opinion, the release said -- diplomatic-speak for saying neither side budged.

Merkel demanded Tuesday that the pope firmly reject Holocaust denial: "The pope and the Vatican must make absolutely clear that there can be no denial of the Holocaust," Merkel said.

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On handling the stimulus: 67% approval vs. 31% approval

The talking heads in D.C. are all agog over the Hill Republicans these days, summed up by a front page story in today's Washington Post noting "the glimmers of rebirth" seen by the Hill Republicans because of their insurgent tactics and the continued domination of Republican members of Congress on cable news. Just shows how far out of touch the corporate political media is, because the American people don't see it that way. Not even close:

The American public gives President Barack Obama a strong 67% approval rating for the way in which he is handling the government's efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, while the Democrats and, in particular, the Republicans in Congress receive much lower approval ratings of 48% and 31%, respectively.

That's 67% for Obama. 31% for the Congressional Republicans. Read the rest of this post...

Obama returns to campaign mode to again defeat the Republicans who destroyed the U.S. economy

A welcome change in tone started to emerge from the President last week as he realized that the Republicans were still playing the same old games and pushing the same old failed policies. The American people dumped the GOP last November. And, Obama had to dump that painful rhetoric about bipartisanship, which only works if both sides are willing. Reuters provided an analysis:

President Barack Obama showed he is willing to cast aside talk of bipartisanship and flex Democratic muscle to push opposition Republicans out of the way in the battle over a U.S. economic stimulus.

Obama began his presidency declaring a desire to work with both sides of the divided aisle. Two weeks later, he found himself caught in the middle of a congressional debate over the size and direction of a behemoth stimulus package.

To the chagrin of some of his own Democrats, Obama welcomed a Republican push to make changes in a $819 billion package that emerged from the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives without a single Republican vote.

Senate Republicans had some good ideas, he told NBC last Sunday, "and I want to make sure those ideas are incorporated."

But by Thursday, the legislation began to get bogged down in partisan battles and polls showed American support for it dropping in the face of Republican charges the plan was stuffed with wasteful Democratic spending items.

Obama abruptly changed his tune, reverting to some of the rhetoric he used on the campaign trail to win the White House.

Americans "did not vote for the false theories of the past, and they didn't vote for phony arguments and petty politics. They didn't vote for the status quo -- they sent us here to bring change," he told House Democrats on Thursday at a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia.

You can't be nice to Republicans, at least to the right wing nut jobs that run that party now. Nice doesn't work with them. They must be crushed. Flex more muscle.

Here's a clip from that speech to the House Democrats in Williamsburg last week. More of the Obama, please:
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Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

A new week begins. We'll see if the Senate can wrap up its initial work on their version of the stimulus today. If Al Franken had his seat, the Democrats would have only needed one Republican to bust the GOP filibuster. They probably would have had Olympia Snowe weeks ago. That's one of the reasons Norm Coleman and the GOP keep dragging out that race in Minnesota.

Later this week, the House and Senate have to conference and hash out their differences. That'll be another round of fun, fun, fun.

While that's all playing out in the Capitol Hill bubble, Obama is taking his show on the road. He's going to talk directly to the American people. Probably a good idea since the traditional media and pundits, a.k.a. The Villagers, would rather talk about the very inside political game instead of the dire state of the economy. The perilous state of our country is an afterthought for them.

Never dull... Read the rest of this post...

Australian fires now claim 130 people - arson investigated

Australia battles with fires every summer but this one appears to be the worst in a long time. As often is the case, arson seems to be involved.

Suspicions that the worst wildfires ever to strike Australia were deliberately set led police to declare crime scenes Monday in towns incinerated by blazes, while investigators moving into the charred landscape discovered more bodies. The death toll stood at 130.

Officials believe arson may be behind at least some of the more than 400 fires that tore a destructive path across a vast swath of southern Victoria state over the weekend. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, visibly upset during a television interview, reflected national disgust at the idea.

"What do you say about anyone like that?" Rudd said. "There's no words to describe it, other than it's mass murder."

Police have sealed off at least two towns — Marysville and Kinglake — where dozens of deaths occurred — setting up roadside checkpoints and controlling access to the area.

Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said specialist fire investigators were on the ground at one fire site, in Churchill, east of Melbourne, and would go to others.

Kinglake is "where the most deaths are, but wherever a death has occurred we investigate that as a crime," Nixon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Anyone found guilty of lighting a wildfire that causes death faces 25 years in prison in Victoria. However, a murder conviction could result in a life sentence, said federal Attorney General Robert McClelland.

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British government united against bankster bonuses

This is the way it should have been in the US as well. Let the banksters make a profit before they ask for a bonus.

The former deputy prime minister John Prescott called on the Treasury to rule out any bonuses and the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, told bankers: "The party's over."

The Treasury announced it had commissioned an independent review of the reward policies at banks, but the chancellor, Alistair Darling, admitted that existing contractual obligations between RBS and its employees may mean bankers still receive handsome bonuses. It has been suggested the bank has set aside a bonus pot of £1bn for its 177,000 employees. There is growing anger that bankers who mishandled billions in the run up to the recession may still be rewarded despite RBS being propped up by £20bn in taxpayers' money.

Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of RBS, and Sir Tom McKillop, the former chairman, will face some of this opprobrium when they give evidence to the Treasury select committee this week.

Speaking on BBC1's Sunday AM programme, Darling said he had reached an agreement with the new chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, that no one "associated with losses" should be rewarded. However he appeared to concede RBS bankers were likely to receive bonuses out of sync with performance in 2008, with losses running into billions set to be outlined in three weeks. The chancellor said: "Obviously there are contractual problems with some staff."

RBS also wanted to make sure they have slimmed bonus payments down to the absolute minimum, the chancellor said. "They have to understand that these banks would not be here but for the British taxpayers, therefore they have to show the degree of restraint that people would expect," he said.

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