This Guy, This Guy!

From Huffpo:

Democratic officials close to the transition team say that Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, appears to be increasingly on track to become energy secretary.

A Chinese-American, Chu is a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley and has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming.

It is the oldest of the Energy Department's national laboratories, but does only unclassified work and in recent years under Chu has been at the center of research into biofuels and solar technologies. Chu has been a strong advocate for the need to engage scientists in the search for ways to combat global warming by replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources such as biofuels and the sun.

MSNBC reports that Chu will be named Energy Secretary, but that it will not be announced this week.

The Marble Ceiling

TPM calls them the Green Team.

WSJ pointing to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy, former EPA chief Carol Browner as a "special energy czar," and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley as chair of the President's Council on Environmental Quality in the new Obama Administration.

I have a weakness for the current gov. of my birth state. Did I tell you she, also, such, you betcha is a former beauty queen. And, um, Harvard Law grad.

Quote O' Teh Day

From a review of what may be a movie so perfect I may not be able to bear it.

“Wendy and Lucy” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has some swearing, a little drug use and a brief implication of violence, but no nudity, sex or murder. The rating seems to reflect, above all, an impulse to protect children from learning that people are lonely and that life can be hard.

Smart Pills

I know, I know, it's cheating. But hell, sign me up.

Human ingenuity has given us means of enhancing our brains through inventions such as written language, printing and the Internet. Most authors of this Commentary are teachers and strive to enhance the minds of their students, both by adding substantive information and by showing them new and better ways to process that information. And we are all aware of the abilities to enhance our brains with adequate exercise, nutrition and sleep. The drugs just reviewed, along with newer technologies such as brain stimulation and prosthetic brain chips, should be viewed in the same general category as education, good health habits, and information technology — ways that our uniquely innovative species tries to improve itself.

I Have No Idea

how good journalism ranks among contrariennes or anyone else, but it's kind of a hobby of mine to keep in touch with my former profession, maybe in the hope that things will get better at some point.
This story today gives me more hope than anything I've read recently, because the idea of information as a public service may be the beginning of a new way of thinking about it. And a new way of doing it.

“Information is now a public service as much as it’s a commodity,” Woolley said. “It should be thought of the same way as education, health care. It’s one of the things you need to operate a civil society and the market isn’t doing it very well.”

Animals In Sports

Soccer horses, surfing dogs, monkey basketball.

Recycling Business

is tanking right along with everything else.

Who Knew?

More signs.
Australia has roaming kangaroos, wombats and...wait for it..camels.

Not Just The Supremes

The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama and the big Democratic majority in the Senate now have the opportunity to flip the ideological balance in many lower federal courts -- the places where most case law is truly handed down. "The change will be most striking on the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, long a conservative bastion and an influential voice on national security cases, where four vacancies will lead to a clear Democratic majority," the Post says.

Two Puppies Down

Four to go. Sniff.
UPDATE: Three now. 12-8-08 10:13 am
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

My Book Group

has been together for more than 25 years. I shall not out the GD's on the internet, but I frankly don't relate to anything in this NYT story. Still, you might. Let me know.
C'mon, you can do comments. NSA is not interested in comments at Contrarienne dot com.

Kewl

You Did Not Know

there was an actual movie called Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. Or did you?

Maybe You Haven't Heard This

Because it's Saturday and I haven't heard it on the news once.

Obama to tap Shinseki as VA Secretary.
Shinseki, remember, was the Army Chief of Staff forced into early retirement by Bush and Rumsfeld for not lying to Congress about how many troops it would take to win the peace in Iraq.

Puppies Renewed

I think there's a way to code a post so it stays at the top of the main page until you take it down. But I haven't figured it out yet.
So here are the Shiba Inus of San Francisco again.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Forget Broadcast Journalists

an oxymoron of gigantic proportions. Forget most of what's in print, too. But when they get Joe Stiglitz to tell you something you probably don't want to hear, pay attention.

The New Reality

The pain is being felt on St. Barth’s and at Sotheby’s, on benefit-gala committees and at the East Hampton Airport, as the world of the Big Rich collapses, its culture in shock and its values in question.

Heh.

Barbies To Grow On Trees

This is serious environmental stuff.

Helene Cooper

has written a much heralded book about growing up privileged in Liberia. She is now the NYT White House correspondent.

Krugman Is Scared

This is actually an improvement, because in the past he has used the term "terrified."

I’ve been ruminating over economic prospects for next year, and I’m getting scared.

Top Ten Books

from NYT. I'd like to read them all, but I probably couldn't bear it.

Prof. Taplin

explains it all. 46 minutes.

Nap Time!

From NYT:

Those who had caffeine had worse motor skills than those who napped or had a placebo. In the perceptual task, the nappers did significantly better than either the caffeine or placebo group. On the verbal test, nappers were best by a wide margin, and the caffeine consumers did no better than those given a placebo. Despite their mediocre performance, caffeine takers consistently reported less sleepiness than the others.

Wow

From Huffpo:

For the rainbow cabinet of the nation's first African American president, Mary Beth Maxwell is the perfect labor secretary you've probably never heard of: a gay woman, community organizer and labor leader with an adopted African American son. And this founding executive director of American Rights at Work is about to get the full-court press.

Maxwell already had the strong backing of former Rep. David Bonior, who despite repeated attempts to get his name removed from consideration continues to be on the short list of potential labor secretaries. Bonior, 63 years old, says it is time for his generation to turn over power to a new generation, and Maxwell, whose labor-backed organization pushes for expanded collective bargaining rights, is his pick.

One comment seems especially appealing:

She's perfect. And it's a good sign if Obama picks her, too. It means he's focused on putting America back to work. Really, all of our domestic agenda is helped by creating jobs. If we nationalized health care, the auto companies could compete. If the auto companies build hybrids, people will invest in green technology. If enough money gets in the hands of the middle class, sales go up, recession is held at bay.

I'm thinking Obama is getting ready to make lemonade with the current financial crisis. And when you think about it, could we have ever gotten any of this done without it? As always, necessity is the mother of invention, and adversity is the friend of progress.

GObama!

They Did It All On Purpose

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Jon Taplin has the smartest, most well-informed commentors I've seen.

This is a must read. No more puppies.

22 Bricks

Andrew Sullivan says it reminds him of how hard Obama's job is.
Oh, Bangladesh.

Okay, What?

I mean, WTF? Financial meltdown? Whaa?

In New York

no one, I mean no one, goes out unprepared. Presentation is everything. But even here in little Pt. Townsend, WA, the idea is catching on. It's tribal really. I plan to document it someday.

Odetta Is Gone

NYT obit.

Dear Megan Carpentier

I'm sorry I lost track of you when you left Wonkette and went to Glamocracy for about a minute. You're one of my dailies now, even though you were wrong about this:

Then let's take a deeper breath and think about the fact that of the first 2 people in line for succession to the Presidency, two of them are women

Being a blogger DOES NOT mean never having to look it up.

Those Cheating Dems

So, uh,Washington state Contrarienne fans may well feel like they fell down the rabbit hole here, but:

This is huge. It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to Franken if these numbers withstand any potential legal challenges.

Puts Gregoire in 04 to shame, only 13 votes between Al and Coleman.

Of course, R's would never steal an election, would they? James Baker, I'm looking at you.

Not Into Puppies?

I'm not into Leonard Cohen music either, but this is damned good.
Gotta copy and paste because for some reason, embed is "disabled by request."
Copyright?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM

Oh, wait. The guy with the gap? Kurt Nilsen, World Idol. Didn't know there was such a thing.

Quote O' Teh Day

It's like the Grateful Dead, only more spaced out.

Oh, right, context. Coming right up.

Nostalgia Trip

Oops

How long have we known there is a financial crisis, six months, 10? Anyway, that's about how long I've not been surprised to find myself reading up on the Chinese economy.
May you live in interesting times.. Yeah, well, thanks a bunch.
Guess I'll go check out the puppies now.

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- House prices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are plunging, and the global economy may grind almost to a halt next year because of it.

"P"

I Was In Venice Once

It was otherworldly. I'm sorry you missed it. Too late now.
UPDATE: Only temporary. Damn! I thought the world was ending. Oh, wait.

Hillary!

Hillary Clinton is going to add yet another chapter to her incredibly fascinating life -- lawyer, feminist, first lady, healthcare diva, U.S. senator, and now secretary of state at a time when America's foreign policy and national security positions are dramatically eroded.

I think the Clinton we saw during the campaign will give herself, her views and approach to complex national security challenges a "makeover." She's going to push women's rights, democracy, human rights, poverty reduction and the like -- but I think she is going to be party to a realist-tilting, crafty Obama-led, Bob Gates-designed, Clinton-out-front process to get a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy. We applaud that.

James Glassman, her undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, has some ideas on how to move her agenda forward -- and she should consider using a lot of the tools that Glassman and his team are developing.

-- Steve Clemons

This Is All You Need To Know Today

except that the DOW fell something like 700. Have you checked the puppies?

The Shiba Inus of West Chester

b. 11-28-08. because the shibas of san fran will soon be off to new homes.
Free kibbles for shelter dogs.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Another Book List

This one from Boing Boing and, so, unexpected and tech oriented, although there are a few cool kids books. Haven't looked at the fiction.
Update: I am reading one of the few non-sf choices, The Yiddish Policeman's Union

No Girly Dogs Need Apply

A shiba inu, perhaps?

Puppy Cam!

Shiba Inus.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

More Best Books Lists

These from NPR.

Tap Goddess of Lower E. Side

joins Lian Hansen at NPR. Gotta love the intertubes.

Reading List

NYT's 100 notable books of the year.

Remember Rubik's Cube?

A woman devised a famous solution method, Virginia Heffernan tells us.

These days Jessica Fridrich teaches electrical and computer engineering at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she specializes in digital forensics. But she’s best known for having discovered the popular Fridrich method of cube-solving in the early ’80s. And the knack has stayed with her: she’s still among the fastest cubers in the world. See the Fridrich spread here: www.ws.binghamton.edu/fridrich/cube.html

Health Care Input

Obama wants yours.

Best Obama Album

Josh Marshall says it's Boston Globe's and I take his word for it.

Public Healthcare Superior

to private. I know you know that, but here's a source to buoy the argument mitt links.
Tidbit:

...public health care systems are more efficient and result in healthier nations, while market based systems are inherently inefficient due to market failures and reduce a nation's health.

Righteous Mothers

have immediate need for old, fat, naked women.


(h/t Mardie)

Well. Well. Well.

I was afraid I'd have to clench my teeth and hold my nose just like when Obama voted for the FISA bill. But it turns out torture supporter Brennan has taken himself out of the running for CIA boss. He credts liberal critics, mostly bloggers, for his decision. Damn straight.

Question O' Teh Day

Why was Palin at the turkey farm, anyway? She was there to pardon one, then quickly moved on.

One Man's Family

gets The Memo.

In the Travel and Entertainment category, you will find that fewer requests to eat in restaurants will be approved, and requests for desserts in restaurants, particularly, will not be approved (unless they are included in the cost of a kid’s meal). In the case of Cabot’s or The Cheesecake Factory, where ice cream or cheesecake, respectively, is kind of the point, sharing is strongly encouraged. An additional benefit of this will be improved health. Netflix has been put on hold for 90 days, and we will reconsider that offering then; unopened red envelopes left on top of the TV indicate a lack of demand at present. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are subject to elimination as well. Executives, including myself, are being asked to purchase regular coffee in place of more expensive coffee drinks while traveling, and to utilize meals from our on-site food service provider whenever possible.

Obama's Other Woman

Valerie Jarrett profiled today in the NYT.
Tidbit:

“What Valerie developed is the art of telling people to go to hell and making them look forward to the trip,” said Mr. Jordan, who advised his wife’s cousin throughout the campaign.

Okay, So...

Omigod, So I Missed All This

and there's no time to catch up. Well, maybe you've got the time. I'm planning on tuning in to HBO's last vampire program segment. 'Nite.

Cut down the last redwood for chopsticks, harpoon the last blue whale for sushi, and the additional mouths fed will nourish additional human brains, which will soon invent ways to replace blubber with Olestra and pine with plastic. Humanity can survive just fine in a planet- covering crypt of concrete and computers.

Oh, Jeez

just let up a day or two and all hell breaks loose. Thanks, Tapelin, who never seems to take a day off.

The transition from wood to coal helped trigger industrialization. In this case, a transition—particularly an abrupt one—out of fossil fuels would have major repercussions for energy producers in the Middle East and Eurasia, potentially causing permanent decline of some states as global and regional powers.

Look, I post this kind of stuff because we all know it's important we have some context. Do I always find the right context? Highly unlikely. Don't ever trust me.

Edith Wharton, Anyone?

Okay, the Gilded Age is not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. Even more now that we're back in the GA again. Sounds like a song title. Back in the saddle again. Back when a friend was a friend. Tra-la.

The tributes to Sanford I. Weill line the walls of the carpeted hallway that leads to his skyscraper office, with its panoramic view of Central Park. A dozen framed magazine covers, their colors as vivid as an Andy Warhol painting, are the most arresting. Each heralds Mr. Weill’s genius in assembling Citigroup into the most powerful financial institution since the House of Morgan a century ago.

Uh, all of this because you're going to be paying the way, of course. Otherwise, just gossip.

For Econ Wonks

Comment O' Teh Day:'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E6DF143DF930A25752C1A96F958260

The New York Times, November 13, 1999:

President Clinton signed into law today a sweeping overhaul of Depression-era banking laws. The measure lifts barriers in the industry and allows banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge and to sell each other's products.

''This legislation is truly historic,'' President Clinton told a packed audience of lawmakers and top financial regulators. ''We have done right by the American people.''

The bill repeals parts of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act...

''The world changes, and Congress and the laws have to change with it,'' said Senator Phil Gramm...

''With this bill,'' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said, ''the American financial system takes a major step forward toward the 21st Century -- one that will benefit American consumers, business and the national economy.''

Meanwhile, recognizing the arson:

http://www.thenation.com/archive/detail/14239331

The Nation Magazine / Nov 15, 1999 edition:

For their money, the finance industry bought not only the end of the Glass-Steagall Act but also the partial repeal of the Bank Holding Company Act. These landmark pieces of legislation, recognizing the inherent dangers of too great a concentration of financial power, barred common ownership of banks, insurance companies, and securities firms... the misnamed Financial Services Modernization Act will usher in another round of record breaking mergers... PAVING THE WAY FOR FUTURE TAXPAYER BAILOUTS OF TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL FINANCIAL CORPORATIONS.

How do we score that?
The Nation 1, Establishment 0.

Where were you the day they sold us down the toilet? I was probably working.

Related.

Bring On Them Libruls, Wahoo!

Ellen Moran, executive director of EMILY’s List, was named White House communications director by President-elect Obama on Saturday.

Moran, a well-known grassroots organizer, has also managed statewide Democratic campaigns and managed the Wal-Mart corporate accountability campaign for the AFL-CIO.

EMILY's List, one of the most important Democratic constituency groups, says it is "dedicated to building a progressive America by electing Democratic pro-choice women to office."

As expected, the White House press secretary will be Robert Gibbs, a top strategist on Obama's campaign who helped chart his leap from the U.S. Senate to the presidency.

Dan Pfeiffer, the campaign communications director, will be deputy director of communications.

There are days when I think "wasn't this on West Wing?" Mary Louise Parker, where are you when we need you? Oh, yeah, Weeds, much more lucrative.

More here.

But He's Our Big Dawg

But He's Our Asshole!

Rahm didn't air. I thought it was fine.

Arianna on SNL

Contrarienne apologizes for blog unreliability of late. Post-election was just too dull to repeat for a few days, and over the weekend she was on a much-needed hiatus. But, "they're ba-a-ack!" with promises of Obama's announcement of his full economic team tomorrow. If I wake up in time.

Slots Are Reportedly Filling Up Fast

Obama campaign political director Mark Gaspard will reportedly be his White House political director.
Here's a quote I like:

Of his job interview with the Illinois Senator, Gaspard recalled Obama saying: "I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."

Taplin's Most Recent Big Idea

Here’s how the Democrats get everyone hopeful over Christmas (enough to spend a little money at the mall). Barack and Joe should hold a press conference on Tuesday of next week, just before folks get on an airplane for Thanksgiving. With Pelosi and Reed at their side, they should announce with that they will convene the new session of Congress on January 3, 2009 to begin debating the Rebuild America Act of 2009. The bill will allow the government to invest $500 Billion in 2009 into infrastructure projects which would be funded half as block grants to the states on a per capita basis and half to large federal projects like rebuilding the high voltage electricity grid. Obama and the Congressional leaders would commit to have the bill passed by Inauguration Day and that Barack would sign it as he walks into the Oval Office for the first time as President, on the afternoon of January 20th. Republicans who oppose it over Christmas, would do so at their own peril.

The Top 25

unanswered science questions.

People Really Do Live Like This

(It's John Paulson, not Hank, although they could be related. Brothers? Cousins?)
Paulson & Co. can surely afford the luxury. The $36.1 billion hedge fund famously racked up billions of dollars in profit by betting against subprime mortgages. And a thick handout to investors at the dinner detailed just how well the firm has been doing. While the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index plunged nearly 17 percent in October, the Paulson Advantage fund gained nearly 3.5 percent.

And always will.

Test Yourself

You think you're so smart, take the civic literacy test and find out that you know more than average Americans, elected officials, college seniors and their instructors. Or not.
Or maybe you're just really good at multiple choice tests.
Yes, I got 94 percent right.

One More Sarah

from Carol J.
Subject: Stunning Break with Last Eight Years


November 17, 2008
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years.

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon.  "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

ACTION ALERT: You Knew It Wasn't Over, Right?

Because that's what he's been saying since he first announced. It isn't about him, it's about us.
There is going to be an ongoing effort from the White House to keep the more than 3 million who donated to him and/or signed on at his Web site, involved as each change is approached and Rahm told us earlier what they are: health care, energy, education, financial stability and war on terror or whatever we'll be calling.
And there's probably a meeting somewhere near you. Look here and just plug in your zip and click search.

Things You May Not Know About The Web

and may not want to know, for that matter. Hot Chicks With Douchebags, for instance.

Um, About All These New Rules

coming out in the final days of this administration.
Apparently it's going to be pretty hard to change them after Jan. 20.

Whether it’s relaxing pollution control standards for power plants or allowing loaded weapons into national parks, the Bush Administration is scrambling to approve or change as many federal rules as it can before it hands off power to President-elect Barack Obama. This surge of “midnight regulations” presents a thorny question for the next administration: What can it do to void rules it thinks should be undone?

An Obama spokesman told ProPublica that the transition team can’t comment on the new administration’s strategy yet. However, John Podesta, a leading member of the transition team, has said Obama will use his “executive authority without waiting for congressional action” to reverse many of Bush’s policies.

But that authority has its limits.

And yeah, Clinton did it, too.
The whole read is fairly short, and very wonkish.

My Man Crush

is and always has been...Rahm!
Especially when he's promising things I want.

Priceless

Our New Attorney General

had this to say in a speech last Friday:

Eric H. Holder Jr., Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration, asserted in a speech to the American Constitution Society (ACS) that the United States must reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring without qualification that the U.S. does not torture people, ending the practice of transferring individuals involuntarily to countries that engage in torture and ceasing warrantless domestic surveillance.

“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror' have diminished our standing in the world community and made us less, rather than more, safe,” Holder told a packed room at the ACS 2008 Convention on Friday evening. “For the sake of our safety and security, and because it is the right thing to do, the next president must move immediately to reclaim America's standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”

Today's Obama Impression

Everybody Loves Lists

My favorite, so far, at this site is 25 Pieces of Free and Open Software for Macs.
And the subhed is "all your list are belong to us." If you don't know lolcat, you need to go back to intertubes school.

Body Builders: Female

 

There's a book and a video. 

Best Commercial Evah?

get John West Salmon in HD on sph3re.tv"

Well, Consider This

Obama is a genius, everyone knows this by now. His inner circle have proven authority of their particular job skills. He'll always keep them close and they won't have to be reminded what loyalty looks like. They already are. His appointments are real, except for the fact that his sensory interests are as keen as an eagle. Don't misundersstand Obama, he knows exactly what he has to do and it will get done. We should all know by now, how he moves. Everytime time we think you've figured him out, he steps over your whole plan. Yes, we need a president who has proven and gathered the group that can continue to prove his worth. The Obama Persidency will be the most exciting in years, we'll all learn from this. Obama has taken on the biggest task in this world at the time and he took it on after he took it from everyone else. He was the underdog, not taken seriously and ignored by the big names as a waste of their time. Go look to them now.

Saturday Sartorialist

Because sometimes you just need eye candy.

The Brothas, On the Street, NYC. Click to enlarge.

Consumer Spending

What did you buy in October. I think I filled the gas tank once. I didn't buy a vehicle. Food. That's it.

For me at least, October was a month when the world sort of stood still. I didn't buy much of anything but food. It's the November-December-January numbers that are going to tell us whether we're facing a consumer spending decline or a consumer spending collapse.

Watchdog Woman

Apparently the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to the bailout oversight committee is a very big deal. At least Krugman thinks so.

Stock Stock Market Shots

Brokers with hands on their faces. Yes, someone created a blog for this.
I find them so you don't have to.

Lest We Forget

Maureen Dowd and Dick Cavett have each chosen the following as respresentative of, as Cavett puts it, someone who seems to have no first language:

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

Oh, Hell, Nothing's Going On That Any Outsider Knows About

As you know, today is Friday, and Hillary Clinton's been to Chicago, and Barack Obama's transition team is in Chicago, and so everyone who's got an ankle or an elbow in the newshole is straight up speculatin' that Hillary's poised to be named as the next Secretary of State. This gives everyone a chance to drop the name of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team Of Rivals like they were the first to think of it, then immediately pivot and fret over the possibility of Clinton being nothing but a dollop of underminer sauce on the promised Hope and Change Hoagie.
It's all frightfully interesting for a few minutes, but if there's any news organization that's just caught the gollydarned vapors over it, it's ABC News' The Note, who do what they do best: take the day's conventional wisdom and dress it up with fluttery melodrama and overheated pretentiousness.

Hillary for Secretary of State

It's more than just speculation, it's an official leak rumor.

ACTION ALERT: Dump Joe

Democrats in the Senate are still milling around, not really deciding what to do about Joe Lieberman's vile involvement with the McCain campaign, his threat to go all GOP on their asses, and whether to leave him in charge of the Homeland Security Committee.
Some of us out in the 'sphere have no doubt. Dump him. Sign petition here to send your senators a message.

Glass Ceiling Cont'd

WASHINGTON— Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general. At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform and said it was a credit to the Army _ and a great surprise to her _ that she would make history in a male-dominated military.

Need A Job?

I'd like to be a telecommuter processing media inquiries and job applications.
To apply, go here.

First Prize: Shiniest Object On The Web

All the criminals, every one of them. Or mostly, anyway. It's not like I fact check or anything.

More Stimulus, More, More

Okay, so today the Kennedy staffers on health care and others had a big meeting with labor and lobby groups ("advocates"). And because they unaccountably find it hard to spend all $300 billion of the proposed stimulus package, they're open to the idea of plugging in $150 billion worth of health care reform, which a lot of economists (okay, some) have advocated along with infrastructure spending and unemployment increases.
This is possibly a good idea, twice the bang for the buck, I guess. Be ready for email campaigns.

Damn That No Drama!

Nothing happening this week unless you find the national Republican Governors' Conference compelling. Or maybe the fact that Joe and Jill had lunch with Dick and Lynn and apparently escaped alive. Word is Darth prefers the tender flesh of infants.
Damn you, No Drama. Am I going to have to go scrounging up shiny objects that are non-political?

Supplements The Experts Take

A multi, of course, and D, and, and...what, no flax? Should I throw it away?

Coal Plants So-o-o Last Millennium

In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

“Today’s decision opens the way for meaningful action to fight global warming and is a major step in bringing about a clean energy economy,” said Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club Senior Attorney who argued the case. “This is one more sign that we must begin repowering, refueling and rebuilding America.”

“The EAB rejected every Bush Administration excuse for failing to regulate the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. This decision gives the Obama Administration a clean slate to begin building our clean energy economy for the 21st century,” continued Spalding

The decision follows a 2007 Supreme Court ruling recognizing carbon dioxide, the principle source of global warming, is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.

“Coal plants emit 30% of our nation’s global warming pollution. Building new coal plants without controlling their carbon emissions could wipe out all of the other efforts being undertaken by cities, states and communities across the country,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “Everyone has a role to play and it’s time that the coal industry did its part and started living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”

The Sierra Club went before the Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2008 to request that the air permit for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative’s proposed waste coal-fired power plant be overturned because it failed to require any controls on carbon dioxide pollution. Deseret Power’s 110 MW Bonanza plant would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“Instead of pouring good money after bad trying to fix old coal technology, investors should be looking to wind, solar and energy efficiency technologies that are going to power the economy, create jobs, and help the climate recover,” said Nilles.

To get background information and see how the case unfolded visit www.sierraclub.org/coal/plantlist.asp

A copy of the decision can be found here: http://yosemite.epa.gov/...

ACTION ALERT: Global Warming

Tell your rep to support Rep. Waxman's challenge of the "Congressman from General Motors" and former global warming denier Rep. Dingell as chairman of the relevant House Committee.

Credo sent me this and I'm passing it along to you.
Dear Friend,

Global climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge of our generation. What we do (or don't do) affects not only our nation, but the world. You might thank that, with a new president poised to take office, we're in a great position to take serious action to address climate change. Unfortunately, a grizzled legislator named John Dingell, known as the "Congressman from General Motors," is standing in our way.

The most important pieces of legislation addressing climate change must pass through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As chair of that committee, Congressman Dingell has exerted his power time and again to kill bills that could roll back global warming. Dingell has lined his campaign war chest with millions of dollars of contributions from electric, oil and coal companies. His wife (and potential successor to his Congressional seat) is a senior executive at General Motors. What's more, until recently, he wouldn't even admit that climate change was a real threat.

I just signed a petition calling on my member of Congress to vote for Congressman Henry Waxman (a staunch environmentalist) to replace Dingell as the Energy and Commerce Chair -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.



Thanks!

Miriam Mekeba: That Voice, That Reportoire

She has died a 76. I haven't heard her in years, but I used to listen to her daily.






I should have continued to listen to her. I listened to this the day I got married.

Smartest Woman On Television

Rachel Maddow!

The Economy Is The Question

...and the answer is...wait for it...wait for it....$600-700 billion in federal spending on infrastructure.
But you knew that, right? This concise essay is from Robert Reich, who is one of the transition advisors.