One administrator in a poor California suburb raked in nearly twice as much as Pres. Obama.
Also: 
Friday, July 23, 2010
Chinese police beat official's wife by mistake
Chinese commentators have called for better treatment of petitioners after police beat the wife of a high-ranking law enforcement official, reportedly mistaking her for a complainant. According to Chinese media, the party chief of the local police bureau told her afterward: "This incident is a total misunderstanding. Our police officers never realized that they beat the wife of a senior leader."
The comment sparked outrage, with one person reportedly responding: "Does it mean the police are not supposed to beat leaders' wives, but that the ordinary people can be battered?" Chen Yulian, from Hubei province in central China, was knocked to the ground and beaten for more than 15 minutes by plain-clothed officers, a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said. The 58-year-old had been trying to enter a provincial office building in Wuhan to meet an official.
The paper said six unidentified men rushed out of the gate and began pummeling her. They were later identified as public security officers who had allegedly been assigned to "subdue" petitioners. According to the newspaper, she was then taken to a police bureau and scolded when she requested medical treatment. Only after she called her husband – who is reportedly in charge of maintaining stability, meaning he would oversee the handling of petitioners – was she taken to hospital, where staff said she had concussion and other injuries.
The petition system is a last resort for thousands of ordinary citizens with grievances. In theory it allows them to seek redress from higher authorities in cases involving issues such as court judgments, land seizures, redundancy or corruption. Chinese media reported today that three officers were reprimanded, one of them being transferred to another job.
The comment sparked outrage, with one person reportedly responding: "Does it mean the police are not supposed to beat leaders' wives, but that the ordinary people can be battered?" Chen Yulian, from Hubei province in central China, was knocked to the ground and beaten for more than 15 minutes by plain-clothed officers, a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said. The 58-year-old had been trying to enter a provincial office building in Wuhan to meet an official.
The paper said six unidentified men rushed out of the gate and began pummeling her. They were later identified as public security officers who had allegedly been assigned to "subdue" petitioners. According to the newspaper, she was then taken to a police bureau and scolded when she requested medical treatment. Only after she called her husband – who is reportedly in charge of maintaining stability, meaning he would oversee the handling of petitioners – was she taken to hospital, where staff said she had concussion and other injuries.
The petition system is a last resort for thousands of ordinary citizens with grievances. In theory it allows them to seek redress from higher authorities in cases involving issues such as court judgments, land seizures, redundancy or corruption. Chinese media reported today that three officers were reprimanded, one of them being transferred to another job.
Man arrested for breaking into bar and selling drinks
A Placer County man has been arrested after he broke into a shuttered bar, reopened the business and started selling drinks to unwitting customers, according to the Placer County Sheriff's department.
The Placer County Sheriff's department arrested 29-year-old Travis Kevie of Newcastle after his 4-day stint as the barkeep of the historic Valencia Club in Penryn which had been shutdown for more than a year.
Detective Jim Hudson became suspicious after reading about the Valencia Club's re-opening in an Auburn Journal newspaper article that featured a picture of Kevie and identified him as the club's new "owner/operator". Not only had Detective Hudson had previous run-ins with Kevie, he knew the Valencia Club's liquor licence had been surrendered. When Detective Hudson went to the bar to investigate, he found it open for business and customers at the bar. Kevie quickly went from behind the bar to behind bars.
Deputies describe Kevie as a transient. They say he broke into the Valencia Club and put an open sign in the window on July 16th. Kevie kicked off his business with a six-pack of beer he bought and resold at the club. He used his profits to buy more alcohol keeping the club open throughout the weekend serving about 30 customers a day, deputies say. Kevie is being held in the Placer County Jail for burglary and selling alcohol without a licence.
The Placer County Sheriff's department arrested 29-year-old Travis Kevie of Newcastle after his 4-day stint as the barkeep of the historic Valencia Club in Penryn which had been shutdown for more than a year.
Detective Jim Hudson became suspicious after reading about the Valencia Club's re-opening in an Auburn Journal newspaper article that featured a picture of Kevie and identified him as the club's new "owner/operator". Not only had Detective Hudson had previous run-ins with Kevie, he knew the Valencia Club's liquor licence had been surrendered. When Detective Hudson went to the bar to investigate, he found it open for business and customers at the bar. Kevie quickly went from behind the bar to behind bars.
Deputies describe Kevie as a transient. They say he broke into the Valencia Club and put an open sign in the window on July 16th. Kevie kicked off his business with a six-pack of beer he bought and resold at the club. He used his profits to buy more alcohol keeping the club open throughout the weekend serving about 30 customers a day, deputies say. Kevie is being held in the Placer County Jail for burglary and selling alcohol without a licence.
Dumb Crooks
Dumb Crooks
Missouri diners flee without paying, but forget purses
A dine-and-dash escapade went bad when two of the fleeing diners left their purses behind.
Bank robber locked keys in her car
A suspect accused of robbing a bank in downtown Davis on Wednesday allegedly made a critical error in her getaway plans: Locking her keys inside her car. Durham resident Laura Jane Murray, 48, walked into the Union Bank on the 300 block of E Street on Wednesday afternoon and handed a note to a bank teller, according to the Davis Police Department.
The bank teller gave Murray an undisclosed amount of cash and she left the bank and walked to her car, parked in a nearby lot. When she arrived, she discovered her keys were still inside her locked car, police said.
Authorities said Murray stopped a delivery driver at a nearby FedEx store and asked to borrow a crowbar to smash out her car window. She ended up trying to use a tool from a nearby truck to break the window, without success. Davis police arrived to find Murray still trying to break into her own car. Murray was arrested at the scene without further incident.
"A lot of these criminal don't anticipate these types of things and the little screw-ups they make ... we just catch the dumb ones quicker," said Davis Police Lt. Thomas Waltz. Murray is suspected in two other bank robberies in the Central Valley; one in Chico and another in Oroville.
The bank teller gave Murray an undisclosed amount of cash and she left the bank and walked to her car, parked in a nearby lot. When she arrived, she discovered her keys were still inside her locked car, police said.
Authorities said Murray stopped a delivery driver at a nearby FedEx store and asked to borrow a crowbar to smash out her car window. She ended up trying to use a tool from a nearby truck to break the window, without success. Davis police arrived to find Murray still trying to break into her own car. Murray was arrested at the scene without further incident.
"A lot of these criminal don't anticipate these types of things and the little screw-ups they make ... we just catch the dumb ones quicker," said Davis Police Lt. Thomas Waltz. Murray is suspected in two other bank robberies in the Central Valley; one in Chico and another in Oroville.
It's The Economy Stupid
It's The Economy Stupid
A survey of the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households reveals surprising habits.
Also: 
New top college for highest-paid grads
Alums of this prestigious school earn a median mid-career salary of $126,000.
Also: Undesirable Jobs That Pay Surprisingly Well
While most people gripe about their jobs once in a while, they'd probably agree they could be doing a lot worse. But what if those 'worse' jobs actually paid better? Fortunately, that is exactly the case with some less-than-ideal vocations, which step it up in the wages department to compensate for difficult working conditions.
Based on the 2008 national average income here are 9 undesirable jobs - from embalmer to sewer inspector - that make up in earnings what they lose in desirability.
Important Inventors And Inventions Of All Time
A site full of interesting facts about inventions and their inventors.
Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. His new toilet paper was composed of flat sheets. Before Gayetty's invention, people tore pages out of mail order catalogs and before catalogs were common, leaves were used.
Unfortunately, Gayetty's invention failed. Walter Alcock later developed toilet paper on a roll. Again, the invention failed. In 1867, Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott were successful at marketing toilet paper that consisted of a small roll of perforated paper.
Unfortunately, Gayetty's invention failed. Walter Alcock later developed toilet paper on a roll. Again, the invention failed. In 1867, Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott were successful at marketing toilet paper that consisted of a small roll of perforated paper.
A turn of a phrase
Grist to the mill
Meaning:
A source of profit or advantage.
Origin:
Grist is the corn that is brought to a mill to be ground into flour. In the days when farmers took 'grist to the mill' the phrase would have been used literally to denote produce that was a source of profit. An early figurative use of phrase is found in Arthur Golding's translation of The Sermons of J. Calvin upon Deuteronomie, 1583:
"There is no lykelihoode that those thinges will bring gryst to the mill."
There are many grist mills still in existence and they would have specialised in whatever type of cereal was commonplace in their location - wheat, buckwheat, oats, corn etc. The association between grist and mills is clear and it was also listed as proverbial in William Camden's Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britaine, 1605:
The horse that is next the mill, carries all the grist.
Grist is usually referred to as unground corn. When the phrase was coined, in the UK in the middle ages, corn would have meant wheat, as opposed to what is called corn in many other parts of the world, which is known as maize in the UK.
Oats that have been husked but not ground are known as grit. This is the source of the name the thick maize-based porridge that is widely available in the southern states of the USA - 'grits'. There is clearly both a linguistic and culinary connection between grist and grits, although not as straightforward a one as a simple spelling mistake - they both derive from the verb 'grind'.
'Grist to the mill' is still used, although less commonly than when I was a lad in the 1960s. Were he alive to see it, this would give some satisfaction to George Orwell, who dismissed the phrase as 'a dying metaphor' in his essay Politics and the English Language, 1946:
Dying metaphors ... a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: Ring the changes on, take up the cudgels for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill, ...
Hefty Marmots
Yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado are gaining weight and producing more offspring compared to thirty years ago. The difference is attributed to climate change.In the Rocky Mountains, these marmots usually hibernate for seven to eight months of the year, which make the summer months “a very busy time for them,” Arpat Ozgul, of the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and lead author of the new paper, said in a prepared statement. “They have to eat and gain weight, get pregnant, produce offspring and get ready to hibernate again.”As the marmots grow bigger, other species are not doing as well. The number of tall bluebells and tenacious wolverines has declined.
But as the Colorado summers have grown longer, so too has the time the marmots have to do all of these things—and do them better. This extra preparation (and reproduction) time means that “they are more likely to succeed and survive,” said Ozgul, whose results were published online July 21 in the journal Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group).
Woman kept open gas cans in house 'because she liked the smell'
A Florala woman was jailed on Tuesday on reckless endangerment charges after she allegedly left open gas containers throughout the house “because she liked the smell.” Chief Sonny Bedsole said officer Chris Jackson was responding to a disturbance report at the North Sixth Street home when he noticed the odd smell throughout the home of Juliana Bryant, 33.
“Officer Chris Jackson responded to the home, and inside, found an open container of gas,” Bedsole said. “When questioned, she said she liked the smell of it.” Bedsole said a Department of Human Resources social worker was contacted after Jackson located Bryant’s three children in the home.
Bryant was charged through Florala municipal court with three counts of reckless endangerment and was released on a $1,500 bond; however, Bedsole said the case remains under investigation and that possible felony charges are pending. “The dangers of having an open container of gas inside a home are obvious,” Bedsole said. “Aside from the toxic fumes, there’s the chance a spark could set off an explosion. It’s just dangerous.”
Bedsole said this is the second incident at the home that involved finding a gasoline-like smell inside the home. “I responded there about two months ago with DHR under similar allegations,” he said. “We found it on the carport, but inside the house did have a strong smell (of gasoline).”
“Officer Chris Jackson responded to the home, and inside, found an open container of gas,” Bedsole said. “When questioned, she said she liked the smell of it.” Bedsole said a Department of Human Resources social worker was contacted after Jackson located Bryant’s three children in the home.
Bryant was charged through Florala municipal court with three counts of reckless endangerment and was released on a $1,500 bond; however, Bedsole said the case remains under investigation and that possible felony charges are pending. “The dangers of having an open container of gas inside a home are obvious,” Bedsole said. “Aside from the toxic fumes, there’s the chance a spark could set off an explosion. It’s just dangerous.”
Bedsole said this is the second incident at the home that involved finding a gasoline-like smell inside the home. “I responded there about two months ago with DHR under similar allegations,” he said. “We found it on the carport, but inside the house did have a strong smell (of gasoline).”
Giant sink hole swallows SUV
A Milwaukee driver escapes after floods rip a 20-foot-deep crater in the road beneath his car.
Also: Bear's head has been stuck in jar for two weeks
A black bear spotted in the Thunder Bay area of Ontario with a plastic jar on its head has had the container stuck for two weeks, wildlife officials say. Just before noon on Tuesday, Amethyst Harbor resident Rob Paterson spotted a young bear passing by his property with a clear jar “jammed right on his head.” The animal briefly came onto his porch, and wandered in and out of the area all day. He immediately called the province’s ministry of natural resources.
“There’s no way to get that off without anesthetizing the animal and cutting it off,” Paterson said. “That’s the frustration, because when you first see it you want to go and rip it off his head but you can’t do that.” The ministry and the OPP have been trying to subdue the bear with a tranquilizer dart since Monday, said Jolanta Kowalski, media spokesperson with the ministry. They are concerned because the bear — 1 ½ to 2 ½ years old and between 27 and 36 kilograms — cannot eat or drink.
Two weeks ago, the ministry received a report of a bear with a jar on its head from a resident in Hurkett, Ont. — more than 30 kilometres northeast of Amethyst Harbour. Officials believe it is the same bear. A radio transmitter is attached to the tranquilizer dart so the animal can be tracked after it is hit. It can take up to eight minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect — plenty of time for the bear to run away, Kowalski said.
A bear trap has also been set up on nearby Lambert Island. Ross Johnston, a conservation officer with the ministry, says dense bush has made spotting the bear difficult. He is concerned about the animal getting enough to drink, and suspects he is surviving off condensation and sweat dripping into the jar. “I’m really surprised he hasn’t just ripped it off. They shred through anything usually, but maybe it has just given up,” Johnston said.
“There’s no way to get that off without anesthetizing the animal and cutting it off,” Paterson said. “That’s the frustration, because when you first see it you want to go and rip it off his head but you can’t do that.” The ministry and the OPP have been trying to subdue the bear with a tranquilizer dart since Monday, said Jolanta Kowalski, media spokesperson with the ministry. They are concerned because the bear — 1 ½ to 2 ½ years old and between 27 and 36 kilograms — cannot eat or drink.
Two weeks ago, the ministry received a report of a bear with a jar on its head from a resident in Hurkett, Ont. — more than 30 kilometres northeast of Amethyst Harbour. Officials believe it is the same bear. A radio transmitter is attached to the tranquilizer dart so the animal can be tracked after it is hit. It can take up to eight minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect — plenty of time for the bear to run away, Kowalski said.
A bear trap has also been set up on nearby Lambert Island. Ross Johnston, a conservation officer with the ministry, says dense bush has made spotting the bear difficult. He is concerned about the animal getting enough to drink, and suspects he is surviving off condensation and sweat dripping into the jar. “I’m really surprised he hasn’t just ripped it off. They shred through anything usually, but maybe it has just given up,” Johnston said.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:Your attention stretched thin for now, and many different demands are coming your way.
Of course, this is stressful, but if you don't let it surprise you, you ought to be able to handle it -- and even look good doing it.
Set new priorities, but make sure to keep them flexible so you can adapt as other things pop up.
Schedule time to decompress, and some extra time with your people -- these should be at the top of your list.
Today is:
Today is Thursday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2010.
There are 162 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holidays or celebrations are:
National Penuche Fudge Day
Spooners (Spoonerism) Day
Rat-Catchers Day
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
The First Bookmobile in the United States
This is a photograph of what is alleged to be the first American bookmobile. It was built in 1905 by the public library of Washington County, Maryland. Mary Titcomb, the librarian responsible for its creation, described its importance:
Would not a Library Wagon, the outward and visible signs of the service for which the Library stood, do much more in cementing friendship? Would the upkeep of the wagon after the first cost be much more than the present method? Is not Washington County with its good roads especially well adapted for testing an experiment of this kind, for the geography of the County is such that it could be comfortably covered by well planned routes? These and other aspects of the plan were laid before the Board of Trustees – who approved of the idea, and forthwith the librarian began interviewing wagon makers and trying to elucidate her ideas with pen and pencil. The first wagon, when finished with shelves on the outside and a place for storage of cases in the center resembled somewhat a cross between a grocer’s delivery wagon and the tin peddlers cart of by gone New England days. Filled with an attractive collection of books and drawn by two horses, with Mr. Thomas the janitor both holding the reins and dispensing the books, it started on its travels in April 1905.The original wagon was hit and destroyed by a train in 1910, and replaced with a motorized version two years later.
No better method has ever been devised for reaching the dweller in the country. The book goes to the man, not waiting for the man to come to the book. Psychologically too the wagon is the thing. As well try to resist the pack of a peddler from the Orient as the shelf full of books when the doors of the wagon are opened by Miss Chrissinger at one’s gateway.
The Ruins Of Cumberland Island
Cumberland Island lies off the coast of Georgia and is the largest of the state's barrier islands at just under 18 miles in length. Virtually no one lives on the island all year round these days but at the southern end of the island you will find Dungeness, once owned by the famously rich Carnegie family.
The house is now in ruins but perhaps if you listen closely you might hear the strains of a ghostly Charleston.
Lightning's striking facts and myths
An old childhood trick can determine the distance of an approaching electrical storm.
Also: Stonehenge's Second Henge
Archaeologists have found something at Stonehenge that is so exceptional that they’re calling it the most exciting find there in fifty years: a second, Neolithic henge.The new "henge" – which means a circular monument dating to Neolithic and Bronze Ages – is situated about 900m (2,950ft) from the giant stones on Salisbury Plain.
Images show it has two entrances on the north-east and south-west sides and inside the circle is a burial mound on top which appeared much later, Professor Gaffney said.
"You seem to have a large-ditched feature, but it seems to be made of individual scoops rather than just a straight trench," he said.
"When we looked a bit more closely, we then realised there was a ring of pits about a metre wide going all the way around the edge.
"When you see that as an archaeologist, you just looked at it and thought, ‘that’s a henge monument’ – it’s a timber equivalent to Stonehenge.
Archaeology and the city
From plow furrows in Sheridan Square to the foundations of a 17th-century City Hall/local pub (man, wouldn't that make council meetings more fun?), this nifty map traces some of the most fascinating finds in New York City urban archaeology.
Bowls of Fingers, Baby Victims, More Found in Maya Tomb
Sealed "like Fort Knox," royal burial may be "gold mine of information."
Ceramic lid found among multiple bowls containing human fingers at newfound Maya royal tomb.
Ceramic lid found among multiple bowls containing human fingers at newfound Maya royal tomb.
Bahamas' 'blue holes' reveal weird science
Scientists have been researching the bizarre locations for at least 30 years.
Also: - Yucatan cenotes
- Epidemic threatens area
- Pix - National Geographic
The best adventure trips in the world
Travel by horseback, kayak, or bicycle on one of these once-in-a-lifetime journeys.
Also: Soccer News
One of England's top teams admits it is interested in acquiring the U.S. soccer hero.
Also: 
A playful defender on a Polish team is caught on camera mimicking the team's young cheerleaders.
Also: Russian spy leaves enigmatic trail online
The "femme fatale" of the spy ring finds ways to connect with the world from an undisclosed location.
Also: Common typos spell-check won't catch
The most common error in the English language is one your computer will miss.
Also: Dieters embrace caveman eating habits
"Paleo diet" followers lose weight by dining on new versions of Stone Age fare.
Also: Fragments of Gluten that Trigger Celiac Disease Isolated
If you have an immune system disorder called celiac disease or are allergic to gluten (or know that someone who is), then you know that eating the wrong thing can lead to severe pain. Even though the role of gluten in celiac disease has been known for 60 years, researchers have just pinpointed the peptide sequence in gluten that cause the body’s immune system to wreak havoc in your tummy:
Bob Anderson, a celiac disease researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Victoria, Australia, and fellow researchers recruited more than 200 celiac disease patients for their study. Participants ate servings of bread, rye muffins or boiled barley for three days. Six days after the experiment started, the researchers drew blood samples.
They tested the samples to see how strongly immune cells in the blood reacted to more than 2,700 different gluten peptides (relatively short chains of amino acids). Ninety of the peptides elicited some response, and three in particular generated the biggest reaction.
"The holy grail in celiac disease research has been to identify the toxic peptide components of gluten, and that’s what we’ve done," Anderson said in a statement. "These three components account for the majority of the immune response to gluten."
Culinary DeLites
Culinary DeLites
Even healthy food can cause weight gain if it contains these compounds, research shows.
Also: 
Your body has different dietary needs during a crisis than in everyday life.
Also: Things never to put in a dishwasher
The heat, high-pressure spray, and harsh detergent can doom many kitchen essentials.
Also: It's The Economy Stupid
It's The Economy Stupid
It might seem like a great deal when everything gets cheaper, but the effect can be disastrous.
Also: 
In much of the country, there are too many homes while demand is falling.
Also: 
Retailers are using strategies like more carpeting to drive shoppers deeper into stores.
Also: On The Job
On The Job
These five careers can take you from a modest starting income to six figures.
Also: 
Places like Lincoln County, S.D., have experienced an employment boom in the past nine years.
Also: Ranks of 'long-term unemployed' soar
A historic number of hard-hit job seekers highlights the depths of the current crisis.
Also: Anger rises over 'flotels' for Gulf workers
Questionable conditions at floating hotel accommodations prompt fishermen to go on strike.
Also: 
The Long Game And The Breitbart Implosion
By Andrew Sullivan:
I have not been immune to feeling frustrated and depressed by the sheer power and energy of the Fox News/Drudge/Breitbart media onslaught against anything to do with Obama. As in the campaign, I've longed in my gut for the administration to lash back with as much vehemence as Fox lashes forward. I've also winced when the Obamaites have appeared totally craven in responding to the context-free narrative many on the denialist, angry right have been pushing. (But at least Vilsack apologized which makes him much more of a man than Breitbart.)
But I've learned over time to respect the canniness of this president's restraint. His gift is patience and perseverance and allowing his enemies to destroy themselves. And I suspect this Breitbart racial smear may be a moment when, once again, you see how Obama outsmarts his opponents. I mean: when you examine it, you see that a woman who actually exemplifies honesty about race and overcomes prejudice was cynically and recklessly used to create a false notion that this administration is racist toward whites, an old and disgusting canard devised by the Becks and Hannitys and Limbaughs in the tradition of Wallace and Atwater and McCarthy.
But - and here's the thing - to the credit of many on the right (and, of course, good old Shep Smith of Fox News), this episode has led to the first real rift in the lock-step of the right-wing noise machine. I know this was so egregious a smear it was indefensible. And I know, as David Frum has noted, that many conservatives tried to deflect blame onto Obama, and the media - led by the cynic Lloyd Grove - has joined the pack. But nonetheless, many on the right took Breitbart on, from NRO outward. This great injustice has, to anyone with a fair mind, deeply damaged Fox News, deeply discredited the Breitbart noise machine, and will render every new soundbite and video issued by FNC more suspect.
It was, in other words, an over-reach from hubris. And I suspect that this over-reach is not just in the rightwing media but in what's left of conservative political activism.
I do not believe, for example, that the blatant religious bigotry shown by Palin and Gingrich on the Cordoba complex near Ground Zero will wear well with Americans. George W. Bush rightly insisted in distinguishing all Muslims from the Jihadist mass murderers who claim to represent them. That distinction - a core element of basic fairness - is vital not just for domestic peace but for success in defanging Jihadist nihilism. And respecting the overwhelming majority of American Muslims who seek only to worship their God in a land dedicated to religious liberty is something, I believe, that will outlast the cheap demagoguery of the current far right that has captured the GOP.
The public may be frustrated by the lack of progress in the economy, and who can blame them? But they are still looking for solutions more than someone to blame. And most are fair enough to understand that Obama has no magic wand, that these problems are bone-deep, and that he has passed actual, substantive legislation that fulfilled clear campaign pledges in an election he won handily. Yes, they are queasy about government growth. So am I. But only government can rescue a free-market capitalist system that destroyed itself - and millions of jobs; deep recessions require short-term fiscal boosts; the health insurance reform was moderate and centrist and you have to have a heart of stone to sit back and watch so many suffer with such waste and cruelty; and there is a steadiness in Obama that no one should under-estimate. Here we have a black president presiding over 10 percent unemployment and his ratings, in a deeply polarized polity, are still above Reagan's at this juncture in a similar long-term economic crisis.
He avoided a second Great Depression. The bank bailout, however noxious, worked. GM may soon be returning a profit to the government. Health insurance reform will stick and, with careful oversight, could begin to curtail runaway healthcare costs. Financial re-regulation just passed. Two new Supreme Court Justices are in place after failed attempts at culture war demagoguery. Crime - amazingly - has not jumped with the recession. America is no longer despised abroad the way it was; torture has been ended; relations with Russia have improved immensely; Iran's regime is more diplomatically and economically isolated than in its entire history; even the Greater Israel chorus has been challenged. Moreover, if the House goes Republican this fall, it renders a second Obama term as likely as Clinton's became (how many Independents would want to hand over the government to Palin and the current GOP in Congress?). On the economy, the employment outlook remains bleak - but not desperate if you look at the long run:
I think the GOP has already doomed itself. I may be wrong and may be misreading an ornery public and the power of Palin-style demagoguery. But I think they have committed the same error in Obama's time in office as they did when he was running. They have mistaken tactics for strategy.
Meep, meep.
I have not been immune to feeling frustrated and depressed by the sheer power and energy of the Fox News/Drudge/Breitbart media onslaught against anything to do with Obama. As in the campaign, I've longed in my gut for the administration to lash back with as much vehemence as Fox lashes forward. I've also winced when the Obamaites have appeared totally craven in responding to the context-free narrative many on the denialist, angry right have been pushing. (But at least Vilsack apologized which makes him much more of a man than Breitbart.)
But I've learned over time to respect the canniness of this president's restraint. His gift is patience and perseverance and allowing his enemies to destroy themselves. And I suspect this Breitbart racial smear may be a moment when, once again, you see how Obama outsmarts his opponents. I mean: when you examine it, you see that a woman who actually exemplifies honesty about race and overcomes prejudice was cynically and recklessly used to create a false notion that this administration is racist toward whites, an old and disgusting canard devised by the Becks and Hannitys and Limbaughs in the tradition of Wallace and Atwater and McCarthy.
But - and here's the thing - to the credit of many on the right (and, of course, good old Shep Smith of Fox News), this episode has led to the first real rift in the lock-step of the right-wing noise machine. I know this was so egregious a smear it was indefensible. And I know, as David Frum has noted, that many conservatives tried to deflect blame onto Obama, and the media - led by the cynic Lloyd Grove - has joined the pack. But nonetheless, many on the right took Breitbart on, from NRO outward. This great injustice has, to anyone with a fair mind, deeply damaged Fox News, deeply discredited the Breitbart noise machine, and will render every new soundbite and video issued by FNC more suspect.
It was, in other words, an over-reach from hubris. And I suspect that this over-reach is not just in the rightwing media but in what's left of conservative political activism.
I do not believe, for example, that the blatant religious bigotry shown by Palin and Gingrich on the Cordoba complex near Ground Zero will wear well with Americans. George W. Bush rightly insisted in distinguishing all Muslims from the Jihadist mass murderers who claim to represent them. That distinction - a core element of basic fairness - is vital not just for domestic peace but for success in defanging Jihadist nihilism. And respecting the overwhelming majority of American Muslims who seek only to worship their God in a land dedicated to religious liberty is something, I believe, that will outlast the cheap demagoguery of the current far right that has captured the GOP.
The public may be frustrated by the lack of progress in the economy, and who can blame them? But they are still looking for solutions more than someone to blame. And most are fair enough to understand that Obama has no magic wand, that these problems are bone-deep, and that he has passed actual, substantive legislation that fulfilled clear campaign pledges in an election he won handily. Yes, they are queasy about government growth. So am I. But only government can rescue a free-market capitalist system that destroyed itself - and millions of jobs; deep recessions require short-term fiscal boosts; the health insurance reform was moderate and centrist and you have to have a heart of stone to sit back and watch so many suffer with such waste and cruelty; and there is a steadiness in Obama that no one should under-estimate. Here we have a black president presiding over 10 percent unemployment and his ratings, in a deeply polarized polity, are still above Reagan's at this juncture in a similar long-term economic crisis.
He avoided a second Great Depression. The bank bailout, however noxious, worked. GM may soon be returning a profit to the government. Health insurance reform will stick and, with careful oversight, could begin to curtail runaway healthcare costs. Financial re-regulation just passed. Two new Supreme Court Justices are in place after failed attempts at culture war demagoguery. Crime - amazingly - has not jumped with the recession. America is no longer despised abroad the way it was; torture has been ended; relations with Russia have improved immensely; Iran's regime is more diplomatically and economically isolated than in its entire history; even the Greater Israel chorus has been challenged. Moreover, if the House goes Republican this fall, it renders a second Obama term as likely as Clinton's became (how many Independents would want to hand over the government to Palin and the current GOP in Congress?). On the economy, the employment outlook remains bleak - but not desperate if you look at the long run:
The Fed expects the economy to grow this year by 3 to 3.5 percent, picking up only slightly, to 3.5 to 4.5 percent, in 2011 and 2012. The unemployment rate is projected to drop to 7 to 7.5 percent by the end of 2012 — still far higher than the 5 to 5.3 percent that the Fed now considers to be full employment.After the scale of the recession, this could be a lot worse. The whole pattern really does remind me of Reagan. And against this, what do the Republicans have to offer? They want to slash long-term spending, but Obama will have the initiative on this after the elections with his debt commission. Will they really obstruct debt reduction because any reasonable deal will need to increase revenues? Do they really want another war, this time with Iran? Are they really going to run on more commitment to Afghanistan? How much will they propose in slashing Medicare and social security? Do they have anything substantive to propose on ending our addiction to carbon energy?
I think the GOP has already doomed itself. I may be wrong and may be misreading an ornery public and the power of Palin-style demagoguery. But I think they have committed the same error in Obama's time in office as they did when he was running. They have mistaken tactics for strategy.
Meep, meep.
Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic Fringe
When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule:
If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.
Liars and Fools
Wingnut website WingNutDaily repeats discredited lies about Obama, Kenya.
Repetitiveness doesn't make them true morons.
Prominent spokesman for John McCain (reptile-Arizona) appears on white supremacist program.
What a shock - the Nazis are finally beginning to be 'truthful' about their selves.
Obama administration wants "race riot", lies Faux's Glenn Beck.
No, that'd be you, you demented idiot.
Faux's Glenn Beck lies: "We are being ruled now" by those who have "contempt for our Constitution, for religion".
Wrong, that was the shrub and the cabal.
Batshit Crazies flock together
Repugicans in Congress line up to join new Tea Party Caucus started by Michelle Bachmann (retard-Minnesota) ...
Mosque protests on the rise
Plans for mosques have sparked opposition in communities around the country.
Also: Things They Won't Tell You
Things They Won't Tell You
You could be chugging toxins in addition to the excess calories in these common drinks.
Also: China spill crews battle spreading oil
The thick sludge coating 165 square miles of the Yellow Sea is overwhelming cleanup workers.
Also: 
Images via the Telegraph
Sadly, the BP Gulf spill (or whatever you want to call it) isn't the only major oil spill looming at the moment. In China, two major oil pipelines exploded, sending thousands of barrels into waters off the nation's northeastern shores. The oil has reportedly spread over 365 miles of ocean, and both the company responsible for the spill and the local authorities were evidently woefully unprepared to combat it -- reports surfaced that cleanup workers, desperate to fend off the crude, resorted to using their bare hands to contain the toxic oil.Article continues: Cleanup Crews Fight Oil Spill in China With Bare Hands
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