What going on – News Roundup
Wednesday Night News Roundup
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is getting high marks for stupidity, gall, and unwarranted chutzpah. As I mentioned yesterday, “candidate five” was thought to be Jesse Jackson, Jr.. He held a press conference today which did absolutely nothing to clear his name.
Barack Obama has chosen Steven Chu, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, to head the Department of Energy and Carol Browner as a White House staffer to oversee energy, environmental and climate-related policies. She led the Environmental Protection Agency for eight years under President Clinton. I believe Barack Obama is sending a clear signal that he is serious about the environment and climate change.
The automakers came to Capitol Hill with an initial proposal for $25 billion and were sent home. They came back with a “better” proposal for $34 billion. Last night an agreement was met for $15 billion. The White House and Capitol Hill had agreed… (in principle). Somehow, though, in this process, the bill has lost another billion dollars. Now it’s a $14 billion bill which has passed the House but looks to get stuck in the Senate. Senate Republicans appear to be gearing up (pun intended) for a fight. The fight will probably be led by Senator Shelby from Alabama. (This is all about unions and union power.) I find it interesting that Alabama manufactures cars and car parts, but none of them are American cars. Nice, huh? (Again we are seeing that there is no current leadership from the White House.)
Clint Hendler of the Columbia Journalism Review has some questions to ask Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the editors of the Chicago Tribune. As I mentioned yesterday on this blog, the Chicago Tribune was asked by the FBI and the US Attorney’s office not to publish the information they had on the Illinois governor. They held the publication and should be commended for showing restraint. However, the tapes released yesterday clearly show that the governor was in contact with the Chicago Tribune about removing several of the editorial staff in exchange for $100 million in state funds for the Chicago Cubs. The Tribune company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, also owns Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs, you see. The Tribune has filed for Chapter 11. The only thing that we know for a fact is that the Chicago Tribune didn’t tell Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich to shove it. Were there ethics violations? In the coming days and/or weeks we will find out whether the Chicago Tribune is a paper with saving.
Yahoo! is about to lay off 1000 employees. I have previously been very critical of Yahoo! and their CEO Jerry Yang. No one should be laid off right before Christmas. No one. That’s just rude.
Senator Larry Craig of Idaho has lost his appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. He now gets to decide whether or not he wants to appeal this to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The bottom line, as I see it, is he pleaded guilty. He was under no duress. When Republicans talk about people wasting courts’ time with unnecessary appeals, I hope they bring up Larry Craig.
A new study performed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that blacks waited almost twice as long as whites to vote in the November election. Hispanics were asked to show identification more often than whites. Racism continues to exist in our country.
The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor bestowed upon a civilian. Past recipients include Mohammed Ali, Robert Rubin and Irene Morgan, who refused to give up her seat to a white couple in July of 1944 (10 years before Rosa Parks). Today President Bush gave the same medal to Watergate criminal Chuck Colson. HUH?
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