Britain Is Smaller than Oregon & The Cowboys Have Not Left the White House

Have you heard? Size Matters. If you've been tuned into the cable news coverage of Obama's trip overseas, you've no doubt noticed how the whole wide world revolves around Obama. Or the U.S.

Here in the United States, there is no foreign news unless the U.S. is at the center. Little wonder that the White House press kit -- distributed in flight -- describes the UK and other European nations in simple terms that even self-absorbed ego-inflated adolescent American reporters can understand:

The United Kingdom is "slightly smaller than Oregon." Germany is "about the size of Montana." The Czech Republic is "about the size of Virginia." And France is merely "four-fifths the size of Texas."

Bush may be gone, but clearly the cowboys have not left the White House.

Commenter Jon nails it:

What utter dickheads the Americans continue to be. It appears their 'size-ist' references missed the fact that British bellies are about one fifth the size of their American counterparts and British Universities create at least five times the world's international supply of scientific brains.

Interesting that, if we're as peurile and insignificant as this patronising and disingenuously inadequate 'fact book' appears; how come we're hosting such a supposedly 'important' meeting. Also; why is it neccessary for the American pols to receive a 'briefing' book ON THE F*****G plane, on the way here. By default, it proves how disconnected and inadequately equipped they are.

After all this effort, most of them won't get the references of course, as many have proven themselves incapable of locating "France", or "Germany" or "Czechoslovakia". Let's remember folks JUST how important France is to America - .... 'remember the USA changing the name of 'french-fries' to 'freedom-fries' .... yes, THAT's how 'valuable' France is to America.

G20 Obama Politics News Europe United States Ego

Ageism, Sexism, & A Belated Happy Birthday Madame Speaker

Last week Nancy Pelosi celebrated her 69th birthday. Instead of sending her a card, Sandra McElwaine devoted 3 sick pages at the Daily Beast to speculating endlessly on the question of plastic surgery.

McElwaine wants to know whether or not the nation's first ever female Speaker of the House has gone under the knife.

Has Madame Speaker had eye lifts? Botox? Or more?

Sandra McElwaine appears to agree with Rush Limbaugh's ageist and sexist assertion that America is not ready for women in politics because the nation is full of sexist and ageist bigots like Limbaugh and they don't want to watch women grow old. We all know how beautifully young and good-looking slug-infested Rush is.

Kate Harding at Broadsheet sums up the situation:

Out of this muddle, I can only reach one solid conclusion: 69-year-old grandmothers must stay out of the public eye if they don't wish to have their faces pointlessly scrutinized to death. Happy belated birthday, Madame Speaker! Sheesh.

Feminist Politics Femininity News Gender Nancy Pelosi Sexism

Hillary at the Hague with Iranian Delegation

Hillary is at the Hague in the Netherlands for the Afghanistan conference, but what's really making news are the signs of a potential thaw between the U.S. and Iran.

Madam Secretary: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives on March 31 with Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen for the start of the international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague. Afghanistan's international backers, including Iran, are gathering to try to bring new impetus to efforts to combat the Taliban-led insurgency, help spread democracy, and rebuild.

The conference will mark one of the highest-level diplomatic engagements between American and Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, although Mrs. Clinton said she doesn't know whether she will speak directly to Mr. Akhundzadeh or other Iranian diplomats.

Feminist Politics Hillary Clinton News Iran

A Girl Has to Sue to Wear a Tux to a Prom

I wish I could say that forcing girls to wear dresses is so 19th century. But I suppose we should be grateful that schools and the workplace actually allow women to wear pants these days.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, of pantsuit fame, is not the only woman who recalls that back in the 1970s women and girls were forbidden to wear pants in the workplace and in the schools. We were suspended and fired for doing so. It is really remarkable how much energy has been expended to force women and girls to dress as we're told.

A 17-year-old Boone County girl has sued Lebanon Schools after her high school principal told her she could not wear a tuxedo to her prom and would have to wear a dress instead. The Lebanon High School senior, whose name is not revealed in the lawsuit, is a lesbian and does not wear dresses because she thinks they express a sexual identity that she does not embrace, court filings said. .

The girl's lawsuit says the school's regular dress code does not contain any gender-specific requirements and that she and many other girls routinely wear pants to school. But the school said her only option for the prom was to wear a dress and that only boys could wear tuxedos, the lawsuit said.

Feminist Politics Femininity News Gender Lesbian News

Hillary Gets Margaret Sanger Award

Quote of the Day

“A society that denies and demeans women’s rights and roles is a society that is more likely to engage in behavior that is negative, anti-democratic and leads to violence and extremism.”

-- Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s
national conference in Houston

“A society that denies and demeans women’s rights and roles” . . . it's unfortunate that Hillary is not merely describing the savagely patriarchal nations across the sea. But doesn't she have a diplomatic and inclusive way of talking about America the Patriarchy?

Secretary Clinton was speaking at the Planned Parenthood conference after she was honored with the organization’s highest honor -- the Margaret Sanger Award.

Hillary's Remarks at Planned Parenthood Federation of America Awards Gala

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body.

-- Margaret Sanger

Feminist Politics Hillary Clinton News Gender Reproductive Freedom Women's History

Newsweek Cover: “OBAMA IS WRONG: The Loyal Opposition of Paul Krugman”

Paul Krugman -- who as far as I can see is right about everything -- is on the cover of the forthcoming Newsweek. The choice of the cover story -- Obama’s Nobel Headache -- is explained in a letter to readers by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. He writes:

“Every once a while, … a critic emerges who is more than a chatterer—a critic with credibility whose views seem more than a little plausible and who manages to rankle those in power in more than passing ways. As the debate over the rescue of the financial system—the crucial step toward stabilizing the economy and returning the country to prosperity—unfolds, the man on our cover this week, Paul Krugman of The New York Times, has emerged as the kind of critic who, as Evan Thomas writes, appears disturbingly close to the mark when he expresses his ‘despair’ over the administration’s bailout plan. …

“There is little doubt that Krugman—Nobel laureate and Princeton professor—has become the voice of the loyal opposition. What is striking about this development is that Obama’s most thoughtful critic is taking on the president from the left at a time when, as Jonathan Alter notes, so many others are reflexively arguing that the administration is trying too much too soon.

"A devoted liberal, Krugman hungers for what he calls ‘a new New Deal,’ and he prides himself on his status as an outsider. (He is as much of an outsider as a Nobel laureate from Princeton with a column in the Times can be.) Is Krugman right? Is the Obama administration too beholden to Wall Street and to the status quo, trying to save a system that is beyond salvation? Does Obama have—despite the brayings of the right—too much faith in the markets at a time when prudence suggests that they cannot rescue themselves? We do not know yet, and will not for a while to come. But as Evan—hardly a rabble-rousing lefty—writes, a lot of people have a ‘creeping feeling’ that the Cassandra from Princeton may just be right. After all, the original Cassandra was.”

Newsweek COVER STORY: THE ECONOMY Obama’s Nobel Headache: Paul Krugman has emerged as Obama's toughest liberal critic. He's deeply skeptical of the bank bailout and pessimistic about the economy. Why the establishment worries he may be right.

Hey Paul Krugman


Krugman New Deal Obama News Plutocracy Recession Politics Geithner Summers

Obama, You're No Stranger to the Bong (Video)

The anger over Obama's refusal to take the question of legalizing pot seriously continues to simmer. And oh look what it has produced:

Obama, You're No Stranger to the Bong

via Reason Magazine

TGW: Obama Broken Promises: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Club (Video)

Drug War Politics Legalize Marijuana News Obama DEA

Women's History Quiz on the Today Show (Video)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"We’ve demonstrated that women can do what men do, but not yet that men can do what women do. That’s why most women have two jobs — one inside the home and one outside it — which is impossible. The truth is that women can’t be equal outside the home until men are equal in it."

-- Gloria Steinem

Feminist Politics Herstory News Gender Equal Rights Women's History

UPS Will Stop Advertising On Bill O’Reilly’s Show

UPS has just announced that it will stop advertising on the Bill O'Reilly show.

The decision is a response to the Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign as waged by Think Progress.

The campaign is in response to Bill O'Reilly's creepy harassment and stalking of Think Progress managing editor Amanda Terkel. Read more about it here. To join the campaign -- "ask his advertisers to express their disapproval. Click here to help Stop the O'Reilly Harassment Machine."

Fox News Politics News Girlcott O'Reilly Stalking Harassment Campaign

Mom Dies While Sub-Human Dallas Cop Power Trips in Hospital Parking Lot (Video)

Speaking of brutes posing as humans, I don't know why there seems to be such a dire shortage of actual human beings who serve as cops. Instead of humans we have brutes like Robert Powell. Instead of helping a family get to the bedside of a dying mom, Officer Robert Powell did his best to hurt the family by prancing around the hospital parking lot power tripping like the sub-human bully he so obviously is.

By the time the Dallas cop finished his He-Man power trip in the parking lot the woman inside the hospital was dead. Robert Powell can and should be fired from his job as sub-human brute posing as a Dallas cop, but I pity his poor family. It's got to really hurt being the mom of such a pathetic low-life brute.


As if having your mother-in-law dying of breast cancer was not painful enough, Houston running back Ryan Moats had it made worse by a Dallas police officer who stopped him for running a red light near the hospital, would not listen to his pleas about the circumstances, drew his gun, threatened to arrest him and kept Moats in the parking lot while his mother-in-law died. . .

Moats’s wife, Tamishia, ignored Powell and ran into the hospital anyway. She arrived at her mother’s bedside just as 45-year-old Jonetta Collinsworth died. . . The incident was captured on a 16-minute video (Part 1 and Part 2), courtesy of Powell’s in-dash video recorder.

[Graphic image - The Little Brute Family is a really great children's book. I read it to all my kids, and not one of them became a brute, au contraire, I'm happy to say. )

Brute Politics Texas Police Dying Mother-in-law News

Harry Reid: Chief Justice Roberts Got the Job by Lying

Quote of the Day

"Roberts didn’t tell us the truth. At least Alito told us who he was.

But we’re stuck with those two young men, and we’ll try to change by having some moderates in the federal courts system as time goes on — I think that will happen."

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Republican SCOTUS Bush Liars Politics News Supreme Court

Obama Broken Promises: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Club

Only one week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder vowed to end the federal busts on medical marijuana dispensaries, the DEA raided Emmalyn's medical marijuana collective in San Francisco (on March 25, 2009)! The angry crowd chanted: DEA Go Away, Listen to Obama.

Meanwhile the question of legalizing marijuana received 92,000 responses in Obama's online Town Hall forum, so many people responded to it that Obama actually responded -- jokingly. I know some cancer patients who aren't laughing. And how about all those peaceful folks whose lives have been ruined by the insanely stupid war on drugs? Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director says it best:

As for those tens of millions of you who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol — and the tens of thousands of you who voted to make this subject the most popular question in today’s online Presidential Town Hall — well, your voice doesn’t really matter. Asked this morning whether he “would … support the bill currently going through the California legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence,” the President responded with derision. . . Sorry Obama, this time the joke’s on you.

Watch the raid and the angry crowd in the clip below.


Politico: Pot-related questions deluge W.H.

Drug War Rant: Medical Marijuana dispensary raid in San Francisco by DEA
DEA Raid in SF This Afternoon
TalkLeft: DEA Raids Medical Pot Clinic in San Francisco Tonight
Uh-Oh! Medical Marijuana Raid in San Francisco
As Promised, He Called Off the Medical Marijuana Raids—For a Week
The Stranger: Remember How Obama Was Going to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries?

Drug War Politics San Francisco News Eric Holder Obama Promises DEA Video

Stupid Girls: What Happened to the Idea of a Girl President? (Pink Video)

What Happened to the Idea of a Girl President? She's dancing in the video next to 50 cents. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video by Pink is worth at least a million.


Feminist Politics Mental Colonization News Gender Femininity Women's History Woman President

GOP Lawmakers Want Drug Tests for Food Stamps, Unemployment & Welfare

You read that right. Lawmakers have a new plan for saving money. It's called 'starving people who use drugs.' That'll teach 'em. Got privacy? Not if your nosy conservative lawmaker has anything to do with it. It's only a matter of time before peeping tom lawmakers will be putting cameras in our bedrooms so that they can withhold food stamps, welfare, and unemployment insurance if their prying eyes spy something other than the hetero missionary position.

But wait. . don't we pay the taxes that fund food stamps, unemployment insurance and welfare assistance? Yeah, we do. And we also pay the taxes that fund the salaries of the privacy-invading control freak lawmakers.

So how about some random drug tests for lawmakers? Since drugs are always on their minds, they must be using some, especially West Virginia's drug obsessed Republican Craig Blair. Why, oh why do 'we the people' put up with such idiot control freak lawmakers?

Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing. The effort comes as more Americans turn to these safety nets to ride out the recession. Poverty and civil liberties advocates fear the strategy could backfire, discouraging some people from seeking financial aid and making already desperate situations worse. .

"Nobody's being forced into these assistance programs," said Craig Blair, a Republican in the West Virginia Legislature who has created a Web site - notwithmytaxdollars.com - that bears a bobble-headed likeness of himself advocating this position. "If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?"

Blair is proposing the most comprehensive measure in the country, as it would apply to anyone applying for food stamps, unemployment compensation or the federal programs usually known as "welfare": Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Women, Infants and Children. Lawmakers in other states are offering similar, but more modest proposals. .

Drug testing is not the only restriction envisioned for people receiving public assistance: a bill in the Tennessee Legislature would cap lottery winnings for recipients at $600.

Republican Control Freak Legislators West Virginia Politics News Gender Welfare

Hillary's Job Approval: 71%

The latest national CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds that Hillary Rodham Clinton's job approval is at 71 percent.

Ninety percent of Democrats are happy with the job Hillary is doing as Secretary of State, and so are 50 percent of Republicans!

Clinton's approval rating is actually higher than that of her boss: The same CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll put Obama's approval rating at 64 percent, 7 points lower than Clinton's. . Clinton's approval rating is also 10 points higher than the one predecessor Condoleezza Rice had in March 2005, two months into her tenure as secretary of state.

Feminist Politics News Gender Hillary Clinton Feminist Trailblazers Women's History Poll

Anger at Rich People: Populist Rage Hits Banker's Home

Gated communities and round the clock security may not be enough:

NY Times: LONDON — The house of Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, was vandalized early Wednesday and windows of his car were smashed.

Mr. Goodwin attracted criticism for keeping his £703,000, or $1 million, pension despite a string of ill-timed acquisitions under his reign that brought the bank under government control and calls from Prime Minister Gordon Brown to surrender the payment.

At least three windows on the ground floor level of his house in an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, were smashed and a black Mercedes S600 parked in the driveway was vandalized. It is unclear whether Mr. Goodwin was in the house at the time.

Global Guerrillas reports:

E-mails from a group claiming the attacks said,

We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning.

AIG Plutocracy Class Scapegoat Politics Economy Crisis News Media Populist Outrage

Letterman: Teleprompter vs. No Teleprompter (Video)

David Letterman takes on the Obama critics who can't fathom why a president uses a teleprompter. The AP's Ron Fournier, of Hillary-hating fame, is particularly dedicated to spreading the absurd teleprompter meme, which just goes to further prove that the U.S. media is for dummies.


They make an interesting point, why would a president want to be prepared and careful about what he says? The guy who had the job for the last eight years didn't need no stinkin' teleprompter!

--David Letterman

Related - Anonymous Liberal: A Better Press Corps Please

Obama Politics News Rightwing Media Ron Fournier Associated Press

Dear A.I.G., I Quit! (Resignation Letter in NY Times)

Jake DeSantis - executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit - has an Op-ed in the New York Times. It's his letter of resignation and is addressed to Edward Liddy, CEO of A.I.G.

Among other crimes, Liddy is accused of failing to defend innocent A.I.G. employees from bold-faced lies spread by our fine upstanding idiot media. You can read the entire remarkable letter at the link above. An excerpt follows.

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company -- during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 -- we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down. . .

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country's call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn't defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut. . .

I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”

SWAMP: Innocent AIG exec quits: We were betrayed
The Hill: Former AIG exec pens op-ed resignation

AIG Plutocracy Class Scapegoat Politics Economy Crisis News Media Populist Outrage

Gender and the Press Conference

Well it's not the Middle East. There are women in the room. The male President took questions from 10 male reporters and 3 women.

Not that we can blame this all on Obama. As you can see from the photos, the people in charge of the media could barely find 3 women to send to the president's press conference.

[T]he list of reporters [who asked questions] in order: Jennifer Loven (AP), Chuck Todd (NBC), Jake Tapper (ABC), Chip Reid (CBS), Lourdes Meluza (Univision), Kevin Baron (Stars and Stripes), Ed Henry (CNN), Major Garrett (Fox News), Mike Allen (POLITICO), Kevin Chappell (Ebony), Ann Compton (ABC Radio), Jon Ward (Washington Times) and Stephen Collinson (AFP).


'President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 24, 2009.' (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
[Transcript]

Obama Media Gender Feminist Male Domination Politics News White House Press

The View: 'Maybe We Should Send Mika a Vibrator' (Video)

Okay, so once again I'm in need of a little comic break from the high drama mess created by the male dominated state. Call me frivolous, but the Barbara Walters vibrator controversy fills that need. In the clip below, the women of The View respond to Mika Brzezinski's disapproval of Barbara's vibrator quip. I find this funny because Mika Brzezinski's uncritical embrace of the role of "mama" to Joe Scarborough and his crew of Morning Joe bad boyz annoys the hell out of me.


Media Gender Feminist Politics News MSNBC Mika Brzezinski

A Song, A Plea: Why is Paul Krugman Not in the Obama Administration? (Video)

Somebody finally said it: One man won the Nobel Prize. The other uses TurboTax. Why is Paul Krugman not in the administration? "Hey Paul Krugman, why aren't you Secretary of Treasury?



Paul Krugman: Financial Policy Despair

Nobel laureate Krugman slams Geithner bailout plan: Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman said in remarks published on Monday that the latest U.S. Treasury bailout program is nearly certain to fail, triggering a sense of personal despair.

“The Zombie Ideas Have Won”–Paul Krugman on $1 Trillion Geithner ...“Cash for Trash”

Hey, Paul Krugman, where the hell are you, man?

Obama Plutocracy Class Recession Politics Geithner News

Vote for Hillary in TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2009

Vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton in TIME's 100 World's Most Influential People in 2009!

via All Things Hillary

Feminist Politics News Gender Hillary Clinton Feminist Trailblazers Women's History Equal Representation

U.S. to Buy Condoms From China - Should Men Be Afraid?

Speaking of stimulus, the U.S. is going to stop buying condoms from Alabama and start buying them from China. That's right. The country that poisoned our puppies and babies is now going to be trusted with our penises.

Oh well, we'll worry about it when the penises start falling off.

Condoms in Alabama go for a nickel, while Chinese condoms cost only 2 cents a piece. And what's a little thing like the health and well being of a penis when you can save 3 whole cents?

Trading penises for pennies is capitalism at its finest! Is this yet another sign that the patriarchy is in its death throes?

At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?

In this case, Chinese condoms. . In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.

Capitalism Politics News Patriarchy Women's History

Sylvia Plath's Son Kills Himself

They say that Sylvia Plath was bipolar and Ted Hughes was a major prick. Obviously, being a poet and a mother and a wife is more than enough to make any woman bipolar. Never mind that Sylvia Plath lived in the 1950s. If you want to be depressed, have a look at some of the online photos of the couple . . photos depicting Ted Hughes as Poet and Sylvia Plath as Poet's wife.

At any rate, it must have been a very sad life for Nicholas Hughes. . very sad to know that your mom left her suicide note on your pram and gassed herself while you were a baby sleeping in the next room.

In those days, it was preached 24/7 by church and state that all women must be wives and mothers. Has that changed?

The son of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath has killed himself, 46 years after his mother gassed herself while he slept, according to a report today. Nicholas Hughes, 47, hanged himself at home in Alaska after a battle with depression, his sister Frieda said in a statement to the Times newspaper.

. . The news of his death adds to the tragic history of the family. His mother, Sylvia Plath, was separated from Ted Hughes when she killed herself by breathing in fumes from the kitchen oven in February 1963. She prevented the fumes from seeping into her children's room by sealing the door with towels.

Six years later, Ted Hughes suffered another loss when his mistress gassed herself and their daughter in an apparent copycat suicide. He died in 1998, the year he published Birthday Letters, a series of 88 poems examining his life with Plath and his reactions to her death.

Poet Plath's son 'takes own life'

Feminist Politics News Gender Sex Roles Women's History

Bush Visits Canada - Ottawa Says: Go Home Bush! (Video)

Wow. Check out this amazing video clip of Canadians telling the world that they really don't like Bush.


Iraq War Politics Canada News Bush United States War Criminal

Madeline Albright On Bill Maher's Real Time (Video)

"The question now is whether a man can ever be secretary of state."

-- Madeline Albright

In the video clip below, Bill Maher interviews Madeline Albright (3/20/09) on the question of why we are fighting in Afghanistan. The discussion turns to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and the question of why women make superior secretaries of state at 4:30.


Brave Bill Maher mocks Palin baby: And in a video clip at the next link, Maher spends a good five minutes trashing the Palin family, reveals he has no clue about special needs children, and tops it all off with an especially sick segment devoted to laughing at Bristol Palin's baby. When Maher's not making sexist jokes about women and girls, he's making sick jokes about babies.

Hillary Clinton Feminist Politics Sarah Palin Baby Tripp News Gender Women's History Equal Representation Feminist Trailblazers

Krugman on AIG, Geithner, Bad Analysis, Bad Policy & Terrible Politics

I wonder what kind of business the liquor stores are doing these days. Paul Krugman offers a devastating critique:

-- I’ll leave to others the question of who knew or should have known that the bonus firestorm was coming; but it’s part of a pattern. At every stage, Geithner et al have made it clear that they still have faith in the people who created the financial crisis — that they believe that all we have is a liquidity crisis that can be undone with a bit of financial engineering, that “governments do a bad job of running banks” (as opposed, presumably, to the wonderful job the private bankers have done), that financial bailouts and guarantees should come with no strings attached.

This was bad analysis, bad policy, and terrible politics. This administration, elected on the promise of change, has already managed, in an astonishingly short time, to create the impression that it’s owned by the wheeler-dealers. And that leaves it with no ability to counter crude populism.

And John Anderson - author of "Follow The Money: How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied America" -- weighs in over at firedoglake: . . Geithner’s standing with the public and the Congress is lowering by the minute. He lacks presence, he lacks eloquence, he lacks gravitas.

David Sirota at Open Left: Incompetence Watch: Tim Geithner and Larry Summers Don't Read the Business Press?
Democratic Senators Tepid on Geithner Support

Plutocracy Class Recession Politics Economy Crisis News Corporate Welfare Populist Outrage AIG

Hillary Receives Global Trailblazer Award for Empowering Women

Last night Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton was honored with the Global Trailblazer award "for empowering women the world over."

I wish I could find the video clip but it doesn't appear to be online yet. Scroll down for a link to a clip of Hillary speaking at last year's ceremony. It's obvious from that video clip that Hillary and women across the political aisle have been sticking together for quite some time. That would have been something quite remarkable to see in the White House.

Too bad the country blew it.

Politico: -- Politics may divide, but women stick together.

Partisanship was tossed aside Thursday night at the 2009 Global Leadership Awards, held at the Kennedy Center, and honoring women leaders including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was there to accept her award.

The ceremony was put on by Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international organization promoting women in leadership, and saw such notables on stage as Ben Affleck, Sally Fields, Maria Bello, Candice Bergen, Diane von Furstenberg, Nicholas Kristof and Maggie Grace. . .


Despite the night's star power—and although additional awards were presented to women leaders from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Cambodia and the Democratic Republic of Congo—it in every way belonged to Clinton, beginning with a touching video tribute and capped with a standing ovation that lasted nearly two minutes when she appeared on stage. Even heartthrob Affleck failed to garner half as much applause.

Hillary speaks at last year's 2008 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards (video)

Hillary Clinton Feminist Politics News Gender Women's History Equal Representation Feminist Trailblazers

Special Olympics Bowling Champ Challenges Pres. Obama

Will the President rise to the challenge?

TMZ reports: A bowling phenom in the Special Olympics has just challenged Prez Barack Obama to a White House roll-off ... and he'll probably kick Barack's butt. — Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics competitor who has bowled three perfect 300 games tells TMZ that the Prez has to score a lot higher than 129 to beat him.

Special Olympics bowler: I can beat the president!
Sarah Palin’s take on the Special Olympics

Obama Politics News Presidential Gaffe Disabled

Women Centric Movie of the Week: Sunshine Cleaning (Video)

Melissa Silverstein over at Women and Hollywood has a list of reasons to drop what you're doing and go see Sunshine Cleaning. She's convinced me. Her reasons include:

After 10 weeks of pretty crappy (and I’m being generous) films for women this is the first film of 2009 that is actually really good. . It’s written by a woman - Megan Holley and directed by a woman Christine Jeffs. . Emily Blunt and Amy Adams as sisters. . . more


Feminist Politics News Gender Women's Films

New AIG Commercial (Video)

Bus tours of AIG executives' homes
The belief that the wealthy are worthy is waning
House approves 90 percent AIG tax
Better Hide Your Badge, AIG Tells Employees

Plutocracy Class Politics Economic Crisis News Corporate Welfare Populist Outrage AIG

Obama Cracks Special Olympics Joke On Leno Show

[Updates - see below]

I thought all the talk about it being unseemly for the Prez to appear on the Jay Leno show was pretty silly. But in light of Obama's insensitive remarks about the disabled, the naysayers may have a valid point:

Leno asked the president whether the White House bowling alley had been "burned and closed down" in light of Obama's gutter ball embarrassment on the campaign trail last year.

Obama replied, "No, no. I have been practicing . . . I bowled a 129."

The audience roared with laughter, and the late-night talk show host assured Obama "that's very good, Mr. President." To which Obama interjected, "It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

The audience laughed

I wonder if Jon Favreau wrote that line for the Prez.

The President also said some things that I liked, such as:

Mr. Obama said that he would like to see a change in tax policy “going back to the 1990s, where you and I, who are doing fairly well, pay a little bit more to pay for health care, to pay for energy, to make sure the kids can go to college who aren’t as fortunate as my kids might be. Those are the kinds of measured steps we can take.”

UPDATE 1: "The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world."

UPDATE #2: President Obama apologized before the show aired and invited Special Olympics athletes to the White House for basketball or bowling. Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver said on the Today Show that Obama's apology was "very moving."

Obama Politics News Presidential Gaffe Disabled

Jim Cramer Attacks Jon Stewart -- From a Safe Distance (Video)

From a safe distance, Jim Cramer dismisses all of Jon Stewart's criticisms as "naïve and misleading." So it's naive to expect journalists to refrain from sucking up to power? Apparently so.

As the video clip below demonstrates, what Cramer says depends on Cramer's distance from media critic Jon Stewart. Or maybe it has something to do with whether or not Erin Burnett is standing behind the man. She does that a lot.


Speaking of hypocrites, NBC chief Jeff Zucker can't be too happy that people are still talking about Jon Stewart's take-down of CNBC. Just imagine, NBC's near blackout of the Stewart vs. Cramer face-off (Olbermann denied it six times!) wasn't enough to shut people up! Zucker has been running around issuing barbs directed at Stewart all week, and now he has sent Cramer forth to defend (lamely) the poor little General Electric propaganda machine.

NBC's Jeff Zucker: Cheerleading for his cheerleaders
The Jim Cramer Indictment: Five More Counts

Corporate Media Lunacy Cramer Erin Burnette CNBC NBC Politics News Daily Show Jon Stewart Jeff Zucker

Feminist Quote of the Day

"Many people, myself included, feel that women’s college basketball is much more fun to watch than men’s because the women do old fashioned things like pass the ball and play like a team, whereas the men’s game is all about individual ball hogging, dunking and general show-offery."

-- - Katherine Franke, Feminist Law Professors

Feminist Politics News Gender Women's Sports Title IX

Tucker Carlson Crosses His Legs When Jon Stewart Speaks

Castration anxiety poster boy Tucker Carlson has a long rant up at the Daily Beast all about how Jon Stewart is so not funny. Carlson is especially upset about the fact that Stewart has a hit TV show and Tucker has none.

Carlson is seriously holding a grudge about that CNN gig Stewart helped him lose. And why not? Those old Crossfire days were the best days of Carlson's career.

Much like Tucker's deranged view of Hillary Rodham Clinton . . .

"[T]here's just something about her that feels castrating, overbearing, and scary. . . I cross my legs involuntarily every time she comes on the air" . . .

there's little logic and much emotion in the Daily Beast rant about why Tucker hates Jon Stewart. John Cook over at Gawker does a fine dissection of Tucker's piece and notes that the fool did get one line right:

"The relationship between Stewart and the media is a marriage of the self-loathing and the self-loving: He insists their real news is fake, they insist his fake news is real."

Media Critique CNBC NBC Talking Head Politics News Daily Show Jon Stewart Hillary Clinton

Meet Ellen's Wedded Partner (Video)

For the scandal weary (like me!), here's a sweet feel-good clip of Ellen and her wedded partner, Portia de Rossi -- on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. It does my heart good to see this obviously very happily MARRIED couple! (Portia has a new show -- "Better Off Ted" -- on ABC.)


LGBT Politics Gender News Gay Lesbian Same Sex Marriage