Where’s the Outrage?

From AP:

Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida.

Endeavour wrapped up a 16-day trip that left the international space station freshly remodeled and capable of housing bigger crews. The shuttle dropped off all kinds of home improvement equipment, including a new bathroom, kitchenette, exercise machine, two sleeping quarters and a recycling system designed to convert astronauts’ urine and sweat into drinking water.

But the mission wasn’t without its problems. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper let go of a $100,000 tool bag during the first spacewalk, muttering “Oh, great” as it floated away. (more… )

Tags: NASA by ecthompson
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It appears that President-elect Barack Obama is going to select Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Without forgetting that political relationships are about using people, there is a lot to be said for moving ahead after a hard fight and hard feelings.

Given this reconciliation between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton , it is a good time to think about who in our lives we can move ahead with, past bad times, to a better relationship.

When we are in our graves, how will our anger and our grudges serve us?

Tags: Other Political Thoughts by Texas Liberal
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From DailyKos (McJoan is on it again):

Tags: Energy by ecthompson
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Maybe it is because I spend so much of my time trying to prevent death that I find this kind of death so shockingly needless. 2,000 people were waiting to get some deal at Wal-Mart. Is it worth it? What can Wal-Mart do to prevent something like this from ever happening again? This reminds me of the 11 deaths at a Who concert in Cincinatti almost 30 years ago.

The TV Show WKRP in Cincinatti did an entire episode about that event. Now I know that a concert and Wal-Mart are two very different things, but with the downturn in the economy, Americans can’t afford to get their kids as much as they could in years past. So maybe there is a feeling that if they only get one gift it should be a “super” gift..? I don’t know. All I know is that life is way too important to lose it at Wal-Mart or any other store because of some crazed ambush for a bargain.

Tags: General by ecthompson
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In a particularly pointless article, the Washington Post notes that Samantha Power “is listed on Obama’s transition website as part of the team reviewing national security agencies.” Really? Samantha Power is an especially gifted woman. As a journalist and war correspondent she covered wars in the former Yugoslavia and has reported from Sudan, East Timor, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. She is the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. I had the pleasure of listening to Professor Power speak at Netroots Nation this summer. She thoughtfully discussed how we needed to get out of Iraq while we try to ameliorate any human rights issues. In spite of pushback from the audience, she held her ground and clearly stated her opposition, policy which we should have. We need to get out of Iraq as expeditiously as possible while protecting the citizen population. This is a no-brainer.

In the age of forgiving Joe Lieberman for his multiple sins and inviting Hillary Clinton, former blood thirsty rival, to run the State Department, it seems only fitting that Professor Samantha Power is in the mix. Back in March she described Senator Clinton as a “monster” and “the amount of deceit that she has put forward is really unattractive.” When you compare this to what Joe Lieberman said about President-elect Barack Obama, what she said is meaningless. Besides that, she was 100% accurate.

Barack Obama appears to be seeking the best and the brightest. This means that in any discussion about the State Department and foreign policy should include a possible post for Samantha Power. She is one of the best of brightest progressives Americans. Winning a Pulitzer Prize for her book entitled A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide doesn’t hurt.

Tags: Foreign Affairs, Obama administration by ecthompson
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The insanity of these terrorists can not be overstated. Were they born yesterday? Did they think that they could hold hostages and then walk free? Did they think that their demands were going to be met? Did they not learn anything from the multiple kidnappings in the late 1970s?

From MSNBC: This seaside city of 18 million has bounced back from wrenching tragedy before, but after the most brazen terrorist attack in India’s history, the people of Mumbai are worried.

In crowded trains, corner stores, office buildings and neighborhood parks, residents ask each other the same questions. “Is anyone safe?” and “Could it happen again?”

The 60-hour siege ended Saturday, claiming at least 195 lives in attacks at 10 landmarks across Mumbai. The three-day ordeal spread fear and grief across a city that attracts newcomers by the hundreds every day.

“There is a limit a city can take,” said Ayesha Dar, a 33-year-old homemaker. “This is a very, very different kind of fear. It will be some time before things get back to normal.”

Dar glanced at a message on her mobile phone that said her children’s school would reopen Monday.

Police shut down most of the city’s “soft targets,” including schools and movie theaters, after the siege began late Wednesday night.

The movie theaters in this film-crazy city are usually packed and attendance levels creeping up would indicate that life is returning to normal. But cinema workers say that could be a while. (more… )

Tags: Foreign Affairs, Terrorism by ecthompson
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The Great Quincy Jones.

Tags: Music by ecthompson
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The Detroit Lions are showing the NFL on national television exactly how bad they really are. Yes, the Tennessee Titans are good, very good…but the Lions are really bad. The NFL hasn’t seen this kind of bad since Tampa Bay entered the league back in the early 70s.

The Dallas Cowboys will need to show the league that they are back. Kyle Koser is out. That’s not good. I now expect the Cowboys to win. The key is how they win. Will this be a Tony Romo turnover fest before we pull it out in the last minute? I hope not. I hope that the defense continues to improve and shuts down the Seattle offense. The Dallas offense needs to be efficient with a good running and passing game. I would love for Roy Williams and Terrell Owens to have a great game. Finally, the Cowboys’ special teams need to show up for the first time this year.

Arizona and Philadelphia play this evening. If Donovan McNabb has a good game, this will be a very good game. Both teams are good on offense…as long as their quarterbacks are playing well. Kurt Warner is having a great season. Arizona’s defense isn’t dominating. Philadelphia’s defense can be run on. So it is really up to the quarterbacks as I see it. Look for McNabb and Warner to have great games as they bounce back from last week. I think the pressure will get to Warner and make the difference in the this game.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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Think Progress did one of these lists last year. I’m glad that they decided to do another list this year. We do have a lot to be thankful for.

This Thanksgiving, progressives have a lot to be thankful for. Here’s our list:

We’re thankful we’ll soon have a president who will hit the ground running instead of a president who is running the country into the ground.

We’re thankful that Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are demonstrating every night how strong and intelligent progressive voices can be successful on TV.

We’re thankful we live in a center-left America rather than ”Hannity’s America.”

We’re thankful John McCain has more time to spend in the houses he owns…even if he can’t remember them all.

We’re thankful Sarah Palin has more time to watch over Russia and warn us in case Vladimir Putin ever “rears his head.”

We’re thankful that we’re moving closer towards a complete withdrawal from Iraq.

We’re thankful for the thousands of protesters who took to the streets across America to push for marriage equality.

We’re not thankful for neo-McCarthys, neo-Hoovers, neo-Nazis, and neocons.

We’re thankful for Tina Fey.

We’re thankful to be liberal hacks.

We’re not thankful for hack operatives burrowing into career civil service jobs.

We’re more thankful for Vice President Joe Biden and “Morning Joe” than Joe Lieberman and “Joe the Plumber.”

We’re thankful that our troops will be able to get the education they so richly deserve.

We’re thankful for the “Mustache of Justice,” “Rahmbo,” “Axe,” and “Skippy.”

We’re thankful that reality still has a liberal bias.

We’re thankful that there are only 55 days left until the end of the George W. Bush presidency. (Did you think that it would ever get here?)

We’re thankful for the progressive mandate to govern.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tags: General, Party Politics by ecthompson
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I simply do not understand this type of senseless violence.

From WaPo: Gunmen attacked three luxury hotels, a hospital, a train station, a movie theater and other buildings in Mumbai late Wednesday, killing at least 100 people and wounding more than 300 in a rampage through India’s financial capital, police said. The attackers took dozens of people hostage, and witnesses said they were seeking out Americans and Britons. An unknown group asserted responsibility in e-mails to India’s news media.

The gunmen, armed with explosives, lay siege to two of the hotels all night. Troops stormed in to rescue people, some of them foreign nationals, who were trapped inside. The 105-year-old Moorish-style rooftop dome of the landmark Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel was engulfed in fire, and flames billowed out of many rooms. One wing of the waterfront hotel was gutted. Seven hours after the first attack, firefighters rescued more than 50 hotel guests and escorted them to ambulances.

At least six foreigners were among those killed in the attacks, said Ramesh Tayde, a senior police officer, according to the Reuters news agency. (more… )

Tags: Foreign Affairs, Terrorism by ecthompson
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Barack Obama held an interview with Barbara Walters of ABC News and even on the opening question it is beautifully apparent how Barack Obama won the election. Barbara Walters asks, as he prepares to lead the country, what his biggest fear is. This sounds like an innocent question. Maybe it was. I can promise you that right wing extremists like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity leaned toward the television when they heard that question. The president of the United States should fear no one; therefore, it is important how he answers this question.

Barack Obama reframes the question with a statement. “There are a lot of things that keep me up at night.” Absolutely brilliant. Traditionally, one reframes a question by asking a new, different rhetorical question. Barack Obama does something different.

Nice interview.

Tags: Economy, Obama administration by ecthompson
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Thanksgiving has never been about who has the biggest turkey. It has never been about stuffing ourselves until we couldn’t move. Thanksgiving has never been about sitting at the adult table. Instead, Thanksgiving is about celebrating all of the gifts that we’ve been enjoying throughout the year.

So, in spite of the woes on Wall Street and in spite of whether your candidate won or lost I would like to wish you and your loved ones a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Tags: General by ecthompson
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The following is from an article called “The Truth About the First Thanksgiving” by James M. Lowen. Mr. Lowen has written Lies My Teacher Told Me and Lies Across America— (Above–One idea of the first Thanksgiving as painted by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Mr. Ferris lived 1863-1930.)

“The summer after the Pilgrims landed, they sent two envoys on a diplomatic mission to treat with Massasoit, a famous chief encamped some 40 miles away at what is now Warren, Rhode Island. The envoys discovered and described a scene of absolute havoc. Villages lay in ruins because there was no one to tend them. The ground was strewn with the skulls and the bones of thousands of Indians who had died and none was left to bury them. 

During the next fifteen years, additional epidemics, most of which we know to have been smallpox, struck repeatedly. Europeans caught smallpox and the other maladies, to be sure, but most recovered, including, in a later century, the “heavily pockmarked George Washington.” Indians usually died. Therefore, almost as profound as their effect on Indian demographics was the impact of the epidemics on the two cultures, European and Indian. The English Separatists, already seeing their lives as part of a divinely inspired morality play, inferred that they had God on their side. John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, called the plague “miraculous.” To a friend in England in 1634, he wrote:

“But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by the small pox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not fifty, have put themselves under our protect”

Here is a timeline of European disease epidemics among Native Americans.

Here is information about smallpox.

Most of us have much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and on all days. Yet this does not mean we should forget how we got what we have, and what costs were inflicted on people we felt were in the way.

(Below —A scene from King Philip’s War. This 1675 conflict is a more accurate reflection of relations between white settlers and Native Americans in colonial New England than the painting at the top of this post.) 

Tags: Books, General by Texas Liberal
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I have been wondering about this one for some time. CitiGroup gets insta-moolah over a weekend. The auto industry flies into Capital Hill, gets a spankin’ and is summarily sent away to do their homework. Why?  Why does CitiGroup get money (to be accurate…more money) and Lehman brothers gets nothing? I don’t understand. Could the problem possibly be that Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury has no overall plan..?  Rachel Maddow tackles these questions:

John Nichols from The Nation has more:

“This is the part of our nation’s surreal economic crisis that seems particularly surreal:

The US auto industry, which employs 3 million Americans in auto plants, parts and supplier networks and dealerships nationwide is broadly understood as being essential to maintaining America as an industrial force. It’s financial collapse, which even critics of moves to bailout the industry suggest is imminent, would devastate workers, retirees and communities in every state of the nation. Despite the grumbling from anti-union zealots, the auto giants have radically retooled in a manner that makes the cost of producing a vehicle at a unionized plant of General Motors, Ford or Chrysler roughly equivalent to the cost of running a car off the line at a non-union plant. And to top it all off: Auto plants actually produce something that most Americans consider to be useful.

Yet, proposals to provide what now seems to be a very small bailout — $25 billion — are currently stalled.

At the same time, the whole of the federal government is scrambling to buy as much as $50 billion in “toxic assets” — bad loans and other products of irresponsible financial practices that are of dubious value — from Citigroup, a global banking concern that makes money by charging working families exorbitant interest rates for credit. According to the Wall Street Journal, “[The move to protect the banking concern] would mean taxpayers could be on the hook if Citicorp’s massive portfolios of mortgage, credit cards, commercial real-estate and big corporate loans continue to sour.” (more… )

Tags: Economy, Media by ecthompson
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Tuesday morning news Roundup

(My blog is acting a little funny. I’ll see if I can get the computer gurus to look at it.)

• President Bush pardoned 14 people yesterday. He has been extremely stingy with the pardons. What makes these 14 people so special?
• Financial guru Allan Sloan is handing out this year’s turkeys. The Federal Reserve gets a turkey for allowing Lehman Brothers to go into bankruptcy.  Yahoo gets a turkey for telling Microsoft “thanks but no thanks.” Sloan also includes Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s turnaround. This is a really good article.

Check it out.

• What about the men who crafted the CitiGroup bailout deal…Henry Paulson, Robert Rubin and Timothy Geithner? I have to wonder why do all these bailouts happen on a Saturday or Sunday?
• A “new” study suggests some cancers can just simply disappear…not really news, per se.
• Allen Colmes is leaving Hannity and Colmes. Thank god. No liberal should be trapped anywhere near Sean Hannity.
• Nevada’s Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki believes that he is going to be indicted but claims that it is only for political reasons. We’ll see.
• Fareed Zararia believes that those of us Americans under the age of 60 wanted to a part of history. Maybe there is some legitimate point there, but I certainly don’t remember sitting up at night thinking that I wanted to be a part of some historic event. Even if I were to ponder something so crazy, this financial crisis is for the birds. Yes, this is a once in a generation event, but not one anyone sane would have conjured up intentionally. I would be very happy to skip this and relive the landing on the moon.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Economy by ecthompson
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Ted Kaufman is the long-time Chief of Staff for Senator Joe Biden. Kaufman has been chosen by Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Miner to take Joe Biden’s place in the Senate until a special election is held in 2010. More here.

Tags: Election 2008, Senate by ecthompson
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Keith Olbermann discusses what a 21st century progressive economic stimulus package looks like. He chats with President Clinton’s former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.

From the Center for American Progress:

When President-elect Barack Obama officially introduces his economic team today, he is also expected to lay out his vision for a “massive fiscal stimulus program.” While estimates of its size vary — from $300 billion to over $700 billion — the expected stimulus package is now almost certain to eclipse the $175 billion package that Obama proposed during the election. The need for a stimulus increases with each passing day. Last week, new unemployment claims reached a 16-year high and are expected to increase again this week, while the total number of individuals seeking jobless benefits is now at a 25-year high. More worrisome for the nation’s overall economic outlook is the very real threat of deflation. While the current crisis looks to be the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, economist Dean Baker explained recently this crisis needn’t be as bad as the Great Depression. Baker wrote bluntly, “There is a simple way to get out of that sort of prolonged downturn: spend money.” Despite such a simple prescription for our economic ills, conservatives who enthusiastically embraced President Bush’s record deficit spending to fund the war in Iraq and tax cuts for the rich, are now recklessly opposing a stimulus package that would include necessary and significant spending to jump-start the economy and fund tax-cuts for the middle class.

NEW DEAL MYTH-BUSTING: In the past, rewriting the history of the Great Depression remained the favored pasttime of activists on the radical right: Grover Norquist, Jonah Goldberg, and the Heritage Foundation. In their erroneous view, FDR’s New Deal was not only ineffective, but was responsible for “prolonging” the Great Depression. Increasingly, however, this view is breaking into the mainstream. Yesterday, for example, conservative columnist George Will said on ABC’s This Week, “Before we go into a new New Deal, can we just acknowledge that the first New Deal didn’t work?” But as Brad DeLong, Paul Krugman, and others explain, the New Deal did in fact work for Americans. Where the New Deal had shortcomings, they were the result of the initiative not being bold enough in the short-term. DeLong explained recently that after the New Deal policies went into effect, “[p]rivate investment recovered in a healthy fashion,” but as the economic outlook began to brighten, Roosevelt chose to “adopt more ‘orthodox’ economic policies and try to move the budget toward balance.” Roosevelt’s attempt to return to “conservative budget principles” by cutting spending and raising taxes precipitated “an economic relapse that drove the unemployment rate back into double digits.” “What saved the economy, and the New Deal, was the enormous public works project known as World War II, which finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs,” Krugman wrote.

THE RETURN OF DEPRESSION ECONOMICS: Those on the right arguing against a sufficiently large economic stimulus and in favor of “belt tightening” at the federal level have been aptly labeled neo-Hooverists. Like President Hoover before them, such neo-Hooverists fail to grasp that admirable policy goals can become harmful in moments of economic crisis. As Krugman wrote recently, the U.S. economy is “well into the realm of what I call depression economics…a state of affairs like that of the 1930s in which the usual tools of economic policy — above all, the Federal Reserve’s ability to pump up the economy by cutting interest rates — have lost all traction. When depression economics prevails, the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply: virtue becomes vice, caution is risky and prudence is folly.” Indeed, while conservatives argue for reduced spending and balanced budgets, New York University Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini testified before Congress’s Joint Economic Committee that failure to enact a fiscal stimulus could actually result in wider deficits as the economy contracts. In his estimate, this would send the U.S. into a “very severe recession.”

Tags: Economy, Obama administration by ecthompson
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Barack Obama announces his economic team. This is a progressive solution to our crisis…exactly what the doctor ordered.

From NYT:  With the financial crisis looming as a priority of his term, President-elect Barack Obama sought to put his imprint on efforts to stem the turmoil as he introduced his economic team on Monday, nominating Timothy F. Geithner as Treasury secretary and Lawrence H. Summers to head the White House Economic Council.

By naming a team deeply experienced in dealing with financial crises — Mr. Geithner was heavily involved over the weekend in the efforts to stabilize Citigroup — Mr. Obama underscored his determination to assure Americans and foreign investors that he would aggressively step into a leadership vacuum in Washington during the transition.

Moreover, by pledging that his economic team would begin work “today” on recommendations to help middle-class families as well as the financial markets, the president-elect sought to convey an impression of continuity and coordination, so that his administration can “hit the ground running.”  (more… )

Tags: Economy, Obama administration by ecthompson
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Just over two weeks ago I took my first trip down to Galveston since Hurricane Ike. Ike hit in mid-September.

Above and below are pictures I took in Galveston. One is of a boat still out of the water. The other is of a very damaged pier. You can explore the online edition of the Galveston County Daily News to get some sense of life on the island today.

The upshot of what I saw in Galveston is that the outward damage to buildings could have been much worse, but that many homes and business places were flooded with sea water and need much work before they can be used again.

The fact that gets lost is that Galveston was an economic disaster zone before the hurricane. The poverty rate on the island has always been high. In 2007, 20.6% of people living in Galveston lived in poverty. This is even higher than the appalling 16.3% rate for all Texas. 

With massive layoffs at the University of Texas Medical Branch in recent days, Galveston has become even more of a disaster zone. UTMB is the largest employer in Galveston. 8,000 of its 12,000 employees live in Galveston. 3,000 people are being let go with this round of layoffs. Galveston had a pre-hurricane population of just over 50,000.

It’s a trick when we are told the hurricane was a unique disaster for Galveston. The trick is that disaster conditions that merit a special response come only every so often, and the rest of time it is business as usual.     

Of course in Texas, we do things a bit differently. The prevailing ethos under both Democratic and Republican political control in Texas has often been to kick a guy when he is down. The layoffs at UTMB, under the pretense of losses sustained since the hurricane, is a fine example of this creed. The fact of an actually acknowledged disaster was just the right time for the huge job cuts. 

Oh, for the malignant neglect of better days!      

The downsizing of UTMB began before the storm. The number of beds and services for the uninsured were already being cut.  You can take what the University of Texas Board of Regents says about the cuts being a result of the hurricane as false. They want to chop down the size of UTMB and leave Galveston, of all things, high and dry, when it comes to places to work on the island.  

Galveston is one of the founding communities of Texas. It’s history runs many years before that of most of the rest of Texas. I’m not going to pretend I have the solution to Galveston’s problems. A good starting point might be to see Galveston as worth saving. And to realize that even with the Sea Wall, Galveston has long been underwater in many regards.     

Tags: Environment, Medical Ethics/Issues by Texas Liberal
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Last year, the New York Giants perfected the art of winning while looking as if they’re struggling the whole time. Maybe that’s the Dallas Cowboys’ blueprint for victory this year. They sure didn’t look comfortable and commanding. The first quarter started one way and then things turned around. The San Francisco 49ers had the ball inside the Cowboy 10-yard-line twice in the first quarter. The 49ers came away with only two field goals to show for all their effort. Using a combination of play-action passes, the 49ers shredded the Cowboys’ secondary.

The first quarter was a complete disaster for the Cowboys’ offense also. They weren’t able to run the ball. They were’t able to throw the ball. Either Tony Romo was missing wide-open receivers or San Francisco was playing outstanding pass defense.

In the second quarter, the whole game changed. Tony Romo went back to pass, avoided one pass-rusher and found Terrell Owens for a 75-yard touchdown strike. From that moment on, the Dallas Cowboys played a completely different game.

The Cowboys still have a lot of work to do.  Their defense has clearly improved over the last four weeks, but don’t be fooled. They’re not close to having the dominating defense they’ll need to be in order to be the New York Giants. They gave up over 300 yards passing to Shaun Hill. The Cowboys’ offense has also improved.  They also have a lot of work to do. The offensive line is better but it definitely needs to tighten up. Their pass-blocking is not consistent. I’m still not convinced that the Cowboys will make it to the playoffs.

 

 Cowboys vs 49ers: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Sports by ecthompson
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