Intelligence agencies still not sharing information

Obama inherited the current "fix" that the Bush administration put into place. There was no reason to assume that Bush didn't fix this after the first screw up, also known as September 11. So why is this still happening? Read the rest of this post...

Dems are moving to sack the superdelegates

There's some New Year's cheer. Read the rest of this post...

2009 words to banish

Taegan cites a few:

Among the 2009 "winners" that played roles in American political discourse: shovel-ready, czar, teachable moment, stimulus, in these economic times, and the Obama-as-prefix construction (Obamacare, Obamanomics).

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1 in 5 divorce papers reference Facebook

Then again, I hear 1 in 5 Republican divorce papers reference Jeff Gannon. Read the rest of this post...

Tech President: "The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality"

I'm particularly fascinated by Plouffe's assertion that the White House does messaging, not organizing. I think that's true in the case of the Obama White House. I don't, however, thinks it's inherently true of every inhabitant of past White Houses. And I suspect this is a part or the problem the White House is having on a variety of issues - they see themselves as spokesmen, not strategists; they are there to talk about what they want (sometimes), not actually organize to win. And they mostly see the online world as a place to push a message, not a constituency, and not a tool. From Micah Sifry at TechPresident:

In The Audacity to Win, Plouffe writes often of an "enthusiasm gap" that he saw between Obama's supporters and the other Democratic candidates, notably Clinton. Back then, there was plenty of evidence to support Plouffe's claim: Obama was surging on all the online social networks, his videos were being shared and viewed in huge numbers, and the buzz was everywhere. We certainly wrote about it often here on techPresident. Now, there is a new enthusiasm gap, but it's no longer in Obama's favor. That's because you can't order volunteers to do anything--you have to motivate them, and Obama's compromises to almost every powers-that-be are tremendously demotivating. The returns OFA is getting on email blasts appear to be dropping significantly, for example. "“People are frustrated because we have done our part,” one frustrated Florida Obama activist told the Politico. “We put these people in the position to make change and they’re not doing it.” (See also this petition from 400 former Obama staffers.) DC insiders may blame the fickle media, or the ugliness of the cable/blog chatter, or the singleminded Republican opposition, for the new enthusiasm gap. These are all certainly factors. But I suspect that when the full history of Obama's presidency is written, scholars may decide that his team's failure to devote more attention to reinventing the bully pulpit in the digital age, and to carrying over more of the campaign's grassroots energy, may turn out to be pivotal to evaluations of Obama's success, or failure, as president....

Now that Obama is President, Plouffe--a well-paid adviser to the DNC and OFA-- apparently doesn't see the same need as he did during the campaign for muscular local organization, even of the top-down kind. In his 40-minute interview with Ari Melber of The Nation (and regular techPresident contributor) a few weeks ago, he explains that the White House doesn't need to be putting its new media operation on the same high level that the campaign did. "In the White House, obviously you're not really raising money and you're not really doing organizing," he says to Melber. (Really?) "The main focus is to help deliver message." Hence the new media team belongs as a subset of White House communications, as opposed to "digital strategy." The dusty old playbook at work....

In the face of strong questioning from Melber about signs of declining support for Obama among young voters, and in the vastly lower counts he is getting on his Youtube video, Plouffe refuses to give out hard, checkable metrics on the health of the Obama base. Hearing Melber describe the disgusted reaction of uber-blogger Markos Moulitsas to a recent OFA fundraising email, Plouffe somewhat hotly replies, "It's easy to take potshots, but I'm very closely in contact with the people who make up the heartbeat of the ground level of Obama for America, who are still out there." (Telling that he says "Obama for America," not "Organizing for America.") He asserts:

"We've had a couple million people out there volunteering for health care, quietly in communities, helping maintain support. It's different from a campaign; you're not out there saying, 'Register eight voters today.'.... I quite frankly am thrilled that over two million people, which is a lot, have done something on health care, meaning: they've gone out and knocked on doors; they visited a congressional office; they helped organize a press conference. It's happened in all 50 states, and we think it's a small part of why health care will get done."

I'm sorry, but when two million people are in motion in favor of something, because they put themselves in motion, we know what that feels like. It's called a movement. It started to happen in 2007-08, and it hasn't happened since.

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Top 10 weirdest moments of 2009

I would concur with most of these:

- Obama has to be sworn in twice
- Sarah Palin resigns
- Sheila Jackson-Lee addresses Michael Jackson's funeral (I'd say it was Al Sharpton tweeting from the funeral)
- Blago does reality tv
- White House beer summit (absolutely)
- Sanford confesses — and confesses, and confesses
- Tom DeLay goes on "Dancing With the Stars"
- Bloomberg, Gingrich and Sharpton team up to talk education at the White House (maybe)
- Steele vs. Limbaugh (not weird, just sad)
- Doug Hoffman says ACORN stole his election (even weirder, FOX News and GOP in general repeating the same thing) Read the rest of this post...

China sentences "living Buddha" to prison

The kangaroo courts of China continue. Remind me again why the IOC gave China the Olympics and then tried to claim it was a success for opening up China from the knuckle-dragging ways of the communist party? (Hat tip to our friend Cat)

The monk's legal team said the firearms had been planted and a confession extracted through torture. They added that while his property had been ceded to him, the paperwork had not been drawn up correctly.

An initial trial last year provoked a wave of media attention and a verdict was never returned. "The story of this religious leader is symptomatic of Beijing's heavy-handed treatment of Tibetans," said Woeser, a leading Tibetan activist. The local government in Kardze county viewed his case as one of the biggest causes of "instability" in the region.

At a second trial in Kangting, the monk's lawyers were disqualified from representing him and his family was forbidden to hire a fresh legal team and forced to use a court-appointed defence. Although he was acquitted of the illegal possession of a firearm, he was given seven years for illegally occupying state land and a further one-and-a-half years for possessing the bullets.

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Jobs improving, again

What was that GOP talking point about the Democrats being so bad for the economy? Wrong again. It's not going to improve overnight but it's steadily improving. Working off the problems of Republican economics will take more time and maybe even another stimulus round. Let's see where we are at the end of the first quarter.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000, the lowest since July 2008. That's much better than the rise to 460,000 that Wall Street economists expected.

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 17th straight week to 460,250, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The crisis led to widespread mass layoffs, which sent jobless claims to as high as 674,000 last spring.

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Immigration agents posing as Mormons?

Federal officials looking to terrorize illegal immigrants have found a new tool: posing as Mormon missionaries.

University of California at Santa Barbara professor, Jacqueline Stevens, reported in The Nation that the ACLU is investigating a claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials visited a home, dressed in LDS clothing, attempting to confirm an immigrant was living there. Marina Lowe, a Salt Lake City ACLU Attorney was interviewed for The Nation piece:

The woman, who was suspicious of other visitors seeking her husband around the same time, said two people dressed like missionaries, but lacking black name badges commonly worn by Mormon emissaries, came to her door, Lowe said.

"It was purely her impression," Lowe said. "She was very suspicious."

The day after she confirmed for the visitors that her husband lived there...he was arrested by ICE agents.

One would think even ICE has its limits. Not so:

When Stevens was preparing her article, she asked ICE whether it is consistent with government policy for its agents to pose as religious workers. The e-mailed answer did not deny suchruses, but instead said tactics are effective to enhance officer safety. "They told me it's consistent with their policy," Stevens said. "Why would I doubt it?”

And not quite a denial from the Mormons:

LDS Church spokeswoman Kim Farah declined comment. "The church cannot comment on unsubstantiated allegations," she wrote Monday in an e-mail.

All this, while the immigration debate in Congress is heating up. Today's LA Times details the White House's commitment to getting a comprehensive immigration bill passed, without revealing its position on key issues. With this White House, as we know, the devils in the details. Read the rest of this post...

Most Americans optimistic about 2010

Sounds fair enough. Although there are some speed bumps ahead and a few possible road blocks to recovery, how could things be much worse than what we've experienced the last few years? How about for you? Optimistic for the new year or mostly glad we're heading out of 2009? What would make 2010 a good year for you? I'm going with optimistic. As long as the economy stabilizes I'll sleep much better at night and anything above would be a bonus.

For all their differences, Americans largely agree on two things: 2009 was a lousy year for the nation, and 2010 is likely to be better. Nearly three-fourths of Americans think 2009 was a bad year for the country, which was rocked by job losses, home foreclosures and economic sickness. Forty-two percent rated it "very bad," according to the latest AP-GfK poll.

That's clearly worse than in 2006, the last time a similar poll was taken. The survey that year found that 58 percent of Americans felt the nation had suffered a bad year, and 39 percent considered it a good year.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's already 2010 in Australia. They're free of 2009.

Apparently, Limbaugh is "resting comfortably" in a Honolulu hospital after being admitted with chest pains.

There's another storm moving up the East Coast today. We're actually having a winter this winter here in D.C. Today, it's an ice storm. But, it doesn't seem too bad. Petey, the dog, won't go out in rain. He loves going out in snow. We'll soon find out his views on ice. I'm not optimistic.

Let's bring 2009 to an end.... Read the rest of this post...

British priest who promoted shoplifting over starvation attacked

This brings me back to my earlier post about gift card stealing. We all know that stealing is wrong (not to mention illegal) so why is it that some people will have the book thrown at them for small theft yet we all watch as Wall Street penalizes so few? Is that fair? Isn't there a problem with the justice system that does nothing as business leaders walk away with tens of millions or more in settlements despite destroying the economy which triggered job losses? Yeah, yeah, the law says blah, blah, blah. Obviously we have serious problems with the laws when stealing a gift card - even $130,000 worth of them - or shoplifting food is a more serious crime than triggering the credit crisis that has so far cost trillions in the US alone. Are crimes now forgiven or ignored when they're over one trillion dollars in value?

Why is it that some react so strongly against the idea of shoplifting food to feed a family but not about the starvation itself? The man who attacked this priest is a coward and should be ashamed of himself, though he probably has no shame.

The Rev Tim Jones, from St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, attracted harsh words earlier this month from the police and a former archbishop of Canterbury for telling his congregation it was acceptable for the needy to steal to feed their families.

But there came a very different rebuke last weekend, when a man approached the priest outside the church and threw 30 tins worth of ravioli and spaghetti on him. The contents of the bucket may well have been inspired by Jones himself, who said he would "rather that people take an 80p can of ravioli rather than turn to some of the most appalling things".

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Norway combats superbugs by giving less antibiotics

A very interesting read on fighting the increasingly common superbugs. Too many doctors hand out antibiotics and pills like candy and that is a big part of the problem. The pharmaceutical industry may not like it and the doctors who receive too many give-aways from the industry may not be pleased but for those who are serious about health should start figuring out how to address this. If it helps save money for expensive drugs along the way, all the better.

Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.

Now a spate of new studies from around the world prove that Norway's model can be replicated with extraordinary success, and public health experts are saying these deaths — 19,000 in the U.S. each year alone, more than from AIDS — are unnecessary.

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