I Love Jesus But I Drink A Little

it thins the blood, ya see.
Ellen talks to Gladys, h/t Patrick Sullivan.

Mr. Reich

and his reliably cheerful assessment of the economy so far. In a nutshell, we own everything but:

Most of high-tech, entertainment, hospitality, retail, and commodities. So far, at least, we taxpayers are not propping them up. And when the economy turns up -- perhaps as soon as next year, most likely later -- these sectors have a good chance of rebounding.

But the others -- the ones the government is coming to own or manage -- are less likely to rebound as quickly, if ever. If anyone has a good argument for why the shareholders of these losers should not be cleaned out first, and their creditors and executives and directors second -- before taxpayers get stuck with the astonishingly-large bill -- I would like to hear it.

It's called Lemon Socialism. Taxpayers support the lemons. Capitalism is reserved for the winners.

Have a good weekend.

New Feature: Obameter

Have been post-inaugurally editing various features to your right.
New today is the Obameter, created by the St. Pete Times in Florida, a pretty good newspaper owned by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism education center set up by the Poynter family, which started the paper.
The Obameter will keep track of the new president's progress on scores of promises made during the campaign.

Day Three

My favorite headlines this morning are at Huffpo:
1. Obama To Lift Gag Rule, Restore Funding For Family Planning
2. FDA Approves First Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Steny, Newt, Pat!!!

What kind of a name is Steny, anyway?

HIGH-FIVE INAUGURATION! - watch more funny videos

Helen!!

Here's a slideshow of the first two days. Note who's in the front row at today's press briefing.
Yay!

Day Two: Guantanamo Redux

Via Sullivan's blog, Greenwald again nails it.
My only quibble (Word Challange!) is the use of the word "unexpected.
Heh.

Barack Obama will have spent his first several days in office issuing a series of executive orders which, some quibbling and important caveats aside, meet or actually exceed even the most optimistic expectations of civil libertarians -- everything from ordering the closing of Guantanamo to suspending military commissions to compelling CIA interrogators to adhere to the Army Field Manual to banning CIA "black sites" and, perhaps most encouragingly (in my view): severely restricting his own power and the power of former Presidents to withhold documents on the basis of secrecy, which has been the prime corrosive agent of the Bush era. As a result, establishment and right-wing figures who have been assuring everyone that Obama would scorn "the Left" (meaning: those who believe in Constitutional safeguards) and would continue most of Bush's "counter-Terrorism" policies are growing increasingly nervous about this flurry of unexpected activity.

And, trust but verify. Who said that?

: Writing on his new Washington Post blog, Greg Sargent highlights the types of vital issues that are unresolved by these Executive Orders and which have the potential to undermine, it not entirely subvert, the progress that Obama made this week. That's why ongoing vigilance, rather than complacency, is so crucial.

The Best Inuaguration Collection

according to Taplin.

For Wonks Only

Krugman tells you. Stay away from most other sources on this subject.

As I’ve already pointed out,the prospect of a Keynesian stimulus is having a weird effect on conservative economists, as first-rate economists keep making truly boneheaded arguments against the effort.

The latest entry: Robert Barro argues that the multiplier on government spending is low because real GDP during World War II rose by less than military spending.

It' s Only Gonna Get Tougher

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/news/politics/caroline_kennedy_ends_senate_seat_bid_151234.htm

Caroline: Not This Time

she's out of the running, citing Uncle Ted's health, according to some. Maybe Cuomo?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/news/politics/caroline_kennedy_ends_senate_seat_bid_151234.htm

Jill!!!

All about that red dress here.

Headline O' Teh Day

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle

Shortymac would never do that.

Headline O' Teh Day

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle

Shortymac would never do that.

Are We Human

or are we dancer? Always, these bipolar questions. Who set that agenda?

Obama: Words for How We Feel Now from Emily Troutman on Vimeo.

The Best Front Page

and perhaps, the last inaugural front page.

Today marks a beginning for America – and an end for newspapers.

Four years from now, at the next inauguration, there will be fewer front pages to look at – if there are any pages to look at, at all.

So we should take a moment to savor this page and all the others published today, then get back to work and find a way to monetize the journalism that supports our democracy – that's what Obama would do if he were a journalist.

Cheese On Chinese Food

Comedy Central promises to do the daily reality check. I'm so grateful, 'cuz I clearly don't have it in me.
(Okay, a lot of stuff is changing at Blogger, and I don't mean in a good way. There's a lot of stuff I can't embed and/or copy anymore. Here's the link
.
Oh Hell, watch the whole thing and bookmark The Daily Show, because if we cant' laugh at ourselves, we are doomed.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=216535

Day One: Guantanamo

From Glenn Greenwald via Andrew Sullivan:

It appears that the Guantanamo judges will be receptive to the Obama administration's request to stay these commissions, as another military judge -- this one overseeing the proceedings against five detainees accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- just ordered the commissions stayed for 120 days, as Obama ordered his prosecutors to request. And the Swiss Government today announced that it will agree to accept released Guantanamo detainees if that helps close the camp, which Switzerland, like most of the civilized world, considers a blight on Western justice and an ongoing violation of international law. Those are fairly rapid (and encouraging) events for the first 24 hours.

I know you really don't want to know about this. I don't either. But it is Day One, so somebody thinks it's important.

In December, 2003, when he was (at most) 18 years old, Jawad -- according to Guantanamo prison logs -- attempted to kill himself. In 2004, he was subjected to the so-called "frequent flier" program, where, in a two-week period alone, he was moved to a new cell 112 times -- an average of every 3 hours, in order to ensure he was sleep deprived and disoriented. Over the six years at Guantanamo, Jawad was repeatedly subjected to extreme cold, bright lights, and various stress positions. He was often kept in solitary confinement or in "linguistic confinement," isolated from anyone who spoke his only language (Pashto). As recently as May of 2008, while Jawad was at Guantanamo, he was beaten so badly by guards that, weeks later, he still had extreme bruises on his arms, knees, shoulders, forehead and ribs.

This is documented, folks, by his original prosecutor, who resigned from the case in protest. Greenwald has the links. You cannot say, as the Germans did , that you didn't know.

Another Inaugural Gem

You will have to go to Wiki to check, I'm not going to do that.

Some trivia from the new WH website: (3+ / 0-)

Recommended by:

wbr, sherlyle, dotalbon

In 1829, a horde of 20,000 Inaugural callers forced President Andrew Jackson to flee to the safety of a hotel while, on the lawn, aides filled washtubs with orange juice and whiskey to lure the mob out of the mud-tracked White House.

Wow

Save this for your children. It's iconic.