flickerbulb

Now, we probably shouldn’t jump on the guilt by association bandwagon (as Obama’s opponents were wont to do during the election), but there are significantly safer, more neutral, and more politically correct (forgive me) selections for an inaugural companion. And this news of the Warren selection is right on the heels of other questionable behavior by Obama — notably, his cabinet choices. Having a cabinet and set of advisors that even Cheney agrees with should send up little red flags all over America.

Someone should ask Obama about what part of “change” we must have misunderstood. Is this country about to be run by the old administration in sheep’s clothing?

State of Protest

heh:

Room for Rent — Inauguration Day/ObamaCon 2009

Date: 2008-11-11, 11:45AM EST

In a search of a room in DC so that you can spend Jan. 20 standing in the bitter winter cold with thousands of like-minded souls watching the historic transfer of power from one Harvard grad to another? Look no further.

Me: Heartless, greedy right-wing oppressive type looking to make a buck.

You: Obama’s election was Christmas/your first kiss/May Day all wrapped into one. You dutifully wore his button — which you have yet to remove — contributed money to his campaign from your non-profit job and chanted “yes we can” as if it were the 11th commandment. A strange void now exists in your life and — like an old hippie looking to recapture the spirit of Woodstock — you are undertaking a pilgramage to Washington for one last gulp of the Kool-Aid.

Along with my bedroom you will have access to the house’s many amenities including cable television (not that you watch much TV) for viewing Keith Olberman’s latest unhinged rants and CNN in high-def. Wireless internet means that the Huffington Post and DailyKos are only a click away on your MacBook. American flags and other patriotic paraphernalia in the room can be removed upon request.

The house is located in the diverse neighborhood of Adams Morgan with people of many different skin pigmentations that will allow you to revel in your tolerance. Rest assured, however, that this diversity does not extend to ideology and that you are sure to march lock-step with the prevailing sentiment ensuring that your most strongly held beliefs remain unchallenged.

Easily accessible subway and bus stops will help ensure a minimal carbon footprint while fair trade coffee is never more than a few steps away at any number of independently-owned establishments. Nearby non-chain bookstores similarly mean that tomes such as Mao’s Little Red Book, Chomsky’s latest masterpiece or additional copies of The Audacity of Hope can be easily purchased either for yourself or as early holiday shopping.

Rather than state a price I am requesting that you bid on this fabulous opportunity to ensure profit maximization on my part so that I can better weather the Bush Recession.

best of craigslist : Room for Rent — Inauguration Day/ObamaCon 2009

Beyond the irony of its outcome, Mr. Obama’s unusual decision to inject himself into a statewide issue during the height of his presidential campaign was a reminder that despite his historic ascendancy to the White House, he has never quite escaped the murky and insular world of Illinois politics. It is a world he has long navigated, to the consternation of his critics, by engaging in a kind of realpolitik, Chicago-style, which allowed him to draw strength from his relationships with important players without becoming compromised by their many weaknesses.

By the time Mr. Obama intervened on the ethics measure, his relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, always defined more by political proximity than by personal chemistry, had cooled as the governor became increasingly engulfed in legal troubles. There is nothing in the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday to indicate that Mr. Obama knew anything about plans to seek money and favors in exchange for his Senate seat; he has never been implicated in any other “pay to play” cases that have emerged from the long-running investigation of the Blagojevich administration.

Obama’s Intervention for Ethics Bill Indirectly Led to Case Against Governor - NYTimes.com

This position splintered this controversy into two prongs: one focusing on Bristol Palin, and a second focusing on Sarah Palin. It was always been the goal of the McCain campaign that the focus be on Bristol, in spite of their pious protestations that “children of candidates should be off limits,” because framing this story to be about Bristol as much as possible would keep attention off of where it belonged, on her mother. Not one shred of concrete evidence has ever been released to demonstrate that Sarah Palin is Trig’s biological mother. We have received one incredibly suspect letter from her physician (which among other things did not even get all of the birth years of the four older Palin children correct.) It does not state explicitly where Trig Palin was born (though it helpfully tells us where he could have been born), when he was born (well, actually, it says 2008), or who actually delivered him.

Palin’s Deceptions: The Nail in the Coffin

So, I guess I am a pro-life, pro-choice, pro-education atheist. Oddly enough this particular centrist view often makes me stand out in a crowd - my family and close friends lean toward the right and I am viewed as the liberal left-wing nut and to most others I am viewed as the conservative, uptight right- wing nut. I suppose it is easier to categorize someone than take the time to understand their views. We hear a phrase, jump to a conclusion and pigeon-hole someone before they can get away. It is a shame that I am not a pigeon.

The Information Paradox: Pro-Life..Pro-Choice…Both?

Anyone who puts their body, soul, mind and strength at lifelong risk on behalf of us all is worthy of double honor.  They are to be esteemed in word and deed beyond a red, white and blue calendar day.  As of now the lofty ceremonies only highlight a national disgrace.            

Whether the veteran was a willing participant in war or a pawn of the President it matters not.  Whether the war was just it matters not.  Whether the veteran is permanently disabled it matters not.  Whether the veteran is an addict it matters not.  Whether you are a hawk or a dove it matters not.

I call on President Obama to make a one sentence policy proclamation.

“During the Obama administration no American veteran will ever go without proper medical care or go homeless, period.”

Worthy of Double Honor - The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

classy move, bush.

just fantastic:

Animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that dams, highways and other projects don’t pose a threat, under regulations the Bush administration is set to put in place before President-elect Obama can reverse them.

The rules must be published Friday to take effect before Obama is sworn in Jan. 20. Otherwise, he can undo them with the stroke of a pen.

The Interior Department rushed to complete the rules in three months over the objections of lawmakers and environmentalists who argued that they would weaken how a landmark conservation law is applied.

Bush To Relax Endangered Species Regulations Before Obama Can Reverse Them

Meanwhile, it isn’t necessary to evict the Creator from the public square, surrender Judeo-Christian values or diminish the value of faith in America. Belief in something greater than oneself has much to recommend it, including most of the world’s architectural treasures, our universities and even our founding documents.

But, like it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian. The change Barack Obama promised has already occurred, which is why he won.

Among Jewish voters, 78 percent went for Obama. Sixty-six percent of under-30 voters did likewise. Forty-five percent of voters ages 18-29 are Democrats compared to just 26 percent Republican; in 2000, party affiliation was split almost evenly.

The young will get older, of course. Most eventually will marry, and some will become their parents. But nonwhites won’t get whiter. And the nonreligious won’t get religion through external conversion. It doesn’t work that way.

Giving Up on God - washingtonpost.com

Sarah Palin:

Ralph Lauren Klondike jacket $4,598
Ralph Lauren Collection jacket $4,798
Ralph Lauren Collection wool turtleneck $855
Armani Collezioni cashmere jacket $1,925
Armani Collezioni blouse $755
Armani Collezioni skirt $960
Armani Collezioni twill jersey jacket $1,325
Armani Collezioni twill jersey skirt $715
Armani Collezioni jersey jacket $1,635
Armani Collezioni jersey tank jacket $1,065
Giorgio Armani quilted jacket $4,375
Loro Piana chinchilla and cashmere sweater coat $5,395
Loro Piana Dolce Vita cashmere turtleneck $755
Loro Piana velvet pants $675
Loro Piana Promenade storm trench $3,695
Dior Leather trim jacket $2,385
Dior Leather trim skirt $1,375
Valentino origami front dress $3,750
Valentino cashmere jacket $3,990
Valentino jacket that Palin wore at the 2008 Republican National Convention $4,990
Valentino skirt that she wore at the R.N.C. $1,490
Dolce & Gabbana herringbone pants $950
Dolce & Gabbana herringbone vested jacket $3,595
Dolce & Gabbana chambray blouse $395
Nina Ricci piped jacket $3,190
Nina Ricci leaf-print blouse $2,290
Nina Ricci piped skirt $1,290
Chanel suit $11,755
Carine Gilson bra $580
Carine Gilson briefs $275
Carine Gilson chemise $968
Wolford Body shirt $370
Wolford bodysuit $220
Wolford stockings $46
Fogal cashmere stockings $365
Louis Vuitton Alzer 80 suitcase $6,550
Hermès carry-on suitcase $4,400
VBH ostrich weekender bag $6,975
Christian Louboutin simple pumps $575
Christian Louboutin croc pumps $4,300
Manolo Blahnik pumps $595
Valentino Histoire tote bag $1,795
YSL Muse bag $1,295
Chanel large classic flap bag $2,875
Valextra croc handbag $20,000
Valextra croc wallet $2,000
Hermès silk scarf $375
Bulgari sunglasses $430
Kazuo Kawasaki glasses $375
Patek Philippe watch $22,000

TOTAL $152,335

How Did Sarah Palin Spend $150,000?

wow.

Then my mom called. You might imagine I don’t get along all that well with my mother, and you’d be right. We’re cordial enough, but we don’t really talk about anything meaningful. It was time for that to change. I told her about my work, and about my next project, a game that would literally change the course of history.
 
Then we talked about Obama. I told her that I felt Americans were living in the Matrix, working long hours, eating pablum, and dying useless for having fed the parasitic machine draining the lifeblood of a withering planet.
 
I told her that Obama was the first president in my lifetime I could look to for inspiration. I told her about seeing people like myself get involved in the politcal process for the first time. I told her about getting to know the truth about money, the economy, and consumption.
 
I told her I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, where the boom-bust cycles of exploitative capitalism gave way the steady, sustainable happiness of altruistic capitalism.
 
Then she got biblical, which was her undoing. No one can quote scripture like an atheist. Without getting into the full multi-hour explanation, I showed her that McCain fits the description of the antichrist much better than Obama.
 
Finally it came down to abortion and gay marriage. I explained that first, understand that Roe v. Wade is not a case about abortion, but about the federal government’s ability to enforce the Constitution at the state level. Most laws are like this — their issues are far more complicated than will fit on a sign.
 
Still, it brings up a greater issue. It is not your job to govern other people’s morality. The Bible is explicitly clear on this subject. Not only does it repeatedly warn against judging others, it also makes clear that vengeance is the exclusive prerogative of God.
 
You are being controlled, I told her, by people telling you how to think, how to feel, and how to act. Use your God-given mind to make your own decisions.

Butterflies

The Obama presidency is great news for almost everyone. It’s bad news for some odd ideological bedfellows: the Religious Right and the so-called New Atheists.

Into the all or nothing culture wars, and the all or nothing wars between the so-called New Atheists and religion the election of President elect Obama reintroduces nuance. President elect Obama’s ability to believe in Jesus, yet question, is going to rescue American religion in general and Christianity in particular, from the extremes.

There is no way to understand President elect Obama’s victory as anything less than the start of not just a monumental political change but a spiritual revolution as well.

Frank Schaeffer: President Obama: Bad News For the New Atheists and Other Fundamentalists

The small smear of red on the otherwise blue electoral map looks more like a minor bloodstain on a dirty Band-Aid than anything resembling a national political party. Who voted for McCain/Palin in bigger numbers than they even voted for Bush/Cheney? Only one shrinking group: uneducated white folks in the deep south and a few folks in Appalachia. Take away the white no-college-backwoods-and/or-southern McCain/Palin vote and the Republicans would have been approaching single digit electoral college oblivion.

Sarah Palin will never hold national office nor will any Republican at the presidential level for a long time to come. Why? Because America has uneducated jerks in it but is not a nation of uneducated jerks. The Republicans are done, hoisted on the petard of their own “southern strategy.”

…and…

The Religious Right, the racists, the anti-gay hate-mongers are now not only marginalized but thoroughly out of step with even members of their own former constituency. For instance the Gordon College student newspaper (Gordon is an influential Evangelical College north of Boston) endorsed Obama this year. Many young evangelicals voted for the Democrats. James Dobson, Fox News, Limbaugh et al. were utterly powerless to do more than stir up hate. They are losing the next generation of their “base.”

Frank Schaeffer: Sarah Palin Will Never Be President — Trust Me