But . . . but . . . but . . . they’ll be able to attend the staff-and-spouses Christmas parties now, won’t they?

Actually, Think Progress mentioned it right before her broadcast and then she publicly announced it.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/…..-partners/

Either way, it was good to hear this!

The firepups last night were less than impressed.

“Here’s a Bone, Doggie, Now Roll Over and Play Dead.”

If anyone has the curiosity of watching trolls swarm like roaches at a greasy spoon diner, check out any of plunger’s Oxdown diaries. In his diary dated yesterday, one went so far as posting with two different aliases, exchanging the same talking points with himself. He was too clever by half, so plunger easily exposed him.

Glenzilla’s gonna be on democracynow this morning.

EPU’d from prior thread:
This is my favorite story of the day. Cure your cold & lose your sense of smell forever. Seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me. /s (Oh, and your cold might have cured in the same amount of time even if you didn’t take the medicine.)

Will Glenn mention that he’s gay? He keeps forgetting.

I have no standing, since I’m straight, but last night’s announcement of Obama’s memo extending benefits feels like he’s throwing an “oopsie” sop to the LGBT community after the language in his DOJ filing equated same sex marriage with pedophilia and incest. Is this just meant to keep his LGBT supporters quiet?

thanks!

don’t know what i’d do without amy goodman and democracy now!

You don’t expect a prez to live up to his campaign promises, do you? I think the prez debates ought to include the Q: What is the first campaign promise you will break, and how soon after you’re elected? Please detail in which order you will break the others, and how soon.

Now will you please come to the fund raiser and bring your checkbook.

Unless, of course, you’d like a job that offers health coverage for your spouse and retirement benefits that extend to your spouse. You know, a job like the person in the office next door.

No one listens to me….I have begged for Christina Romer to learn to modulate her voice..how do we say shrill? School marm….I really do want to listen…

bless amy for covering the protests in peru!

Oh, and I also like the Ensign story.

Why does he have to mention it at all? That’s his business, not mine.

and your credit card.

….. that reminds me. have you seen the latest email from obama?

Donate For The Health Care Fight

Hi, SD….surely going to be hot here in TX…Later, man.

Hi, RevBev. Gonna be a scorcher here too.

Heh. I managed not to get on Obama’s email list. A good thing.

Why is an extramarital affair a game ender for dems. but if you are a rethug it is an oopsie see you all at the office tomorrow.

Meanwhile in other news President Prejean will ignore. . .

IOKIYAR. Got no better explanation.

That is why gawd invented the delete tab.

i used to be on it, but at some point (don’t remember when) i got so angry with the manipulation i unsubscribed.

revbev and SD, forecast is for 73F and sunny today in MA.

(sigh)

I wonder how many others have unsubscribed. Would be an interesting stat to have. We’ll find out right after Obama releases the WH visitors’ log (i.e., once he fights the FOIA requests up thru the SCOTUS).

I understand Peterr. One good thing is the states are slowly starting to wake up on the marriage issue (ALL should be able to marry!). Not once have I heard President Obama denouncing the states and repeating what his Bush Pig at the DOJ stated in his filing recently.

Baby steps. I know the gay community doesn’t want to hear that, but we have to focus on the pluses right now. Change is coming! I, for one, will be protesting up here in Maine against the Catholic Diocese who does not want change.

LOL Yes, I read that too. ;-)

Cuban minister on democracynow sez OAS hasn’t done anything good in this hemisphere and is a puppet of U.S. Sounds about right to me. If someone knows of some positive action of OAS, please let me know.

yeah, what’s up with the visitor logs? that seems like such a no brainer.

Federal employees? Really? That helps me so much. No, wait, it doesn’t.

So, if he is able to push through all the changes wanted it will result in less violence?

Actually the states are waking up to the marraige issue rather quickly. We’ve got six so far, and the whole country is talking about it.

My lover and I have been together for 38 years.

A 38 years that means nothing to President Prejean and his ilk.

Certainly seems that Obama has something to hide. One can only speculate (and I won’t) what that is. In the W admin, we knew a great deal about what he had to hide, but with O, we’re clueless.

Actually yes in the long run.

What do you mean by “something to hide”?

The Cuban democracynow guest is prez of the Cuban National Assembly.

No wonder the right wingers in the Congress were dead set against a Hate Crimes bill, because they knew their constituents would be exposed for what they really are: racist hateful bigots!

He won’t release the WH visitors’ logs. Only explanation is that he has something to hide. democracynow is doing a story on it right now. I’ll let you know if I learn anything.

i have a vague (and quite possibly wrong) recollection of the oas refusing to recognize the coup in venezuela? maybe some other contentious votes. hard though for countries to go against the wishes of the most powerful member (usa).

So much for having a fierce advocate for my rights in the White House.

Glenzilla’s the guest and he’s detailing all the secrecy moves that Obama has taken, right from the getgo, and points out that O’s pledge of an open administration was a key part of his platform, so the reversal is stark.

glennzilla up on democracy now! talking about secrecy in the obama administration.

O refuses to release info on which coal plants are releasing toxic materials.

…who say the president made a lot of promises during the campaign that he now seems in no hurry to fulfill.

Sadly, that extends to too many other problems/promises… Iraq, Afghanistan, Universal Healthcare(Single Payer), transparency, …ad nauseum! 8-(

Leftist elements throughout Central and South America have always denounced the OAS as a puppet of the US. Can’t say I blame them.

Thanks. I admit to knowing very little about OAS.

Uh, wouldn’t that be every coal-fired plant? Not a lot of secrecy there.

Maybe Jeff Gannon has moved back into the Lincoln bedroom.

O directly criticized W on visitor logs on several occassions. But that was then, and this is now.

Mahalo, CT. Damn, I hope I got that right.

Let me know if Glenn mentions Teh Ghey. I can’t listen to NPR anymore without throwing up.

There was some specific toxin in the request, but I can’t type and listen at the same time, so I didn’t include it in my comment.

Why is no one talking about the latest hate crimes from Arizona. We have not a lone wolf but the leadership of Minutemen and FAIR executing brown people (including a 9 year old girl). I guess we are afraid of Pat Buchanon et al
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..?ref=fpblg

Let’s not forget NPR decided to become Right Wing Central when they were told their funding would be cut off if they didn’t.

Okay, going to work! Have a great day everyone. ;-)

Glenn segment is over.

I knew Obama wouldn’t give up any of the unitary exec privileges that W created. Nothing specific about O. Any prez would do the same. You don’t get to be the most powerful man in the world if you’re interested in giving up power. Prez power is a one-way street.

I listed the female militia wingnut on one of my blog pages labeled, “The Right Wing Strikes Again!”:

http://whitenoiseinsanity.com/…..ment-50482

Insanity!

Who was it on Moyers that said… “Presidents are reluctant to give up tools in their toolbox”… Case in point…

The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said.

Yeppers, that be the word…! ;-)

i don’t disagree with you – was trying to think of some example of conflict.

Read Bamford’s Shadow Factory. NSA is collecting all communications of all U.S.ians. Nothing new about it. Using Israeli software to scan it all for key words.

just secrecy issues (unless i missed it).

btw, i listen to democracy now! on pacifica (wbai, wpfw, kpft, kpfk, kpfa) for true public radio.

Great looking blog, Kay…! 8-)

usually for sure. but not always. george washington. nelson mandela.

…. the story of frodo and the ring :)

Know which one has me really pissed? they’re talking now about counting health insurance benefits as income. even assuming that’s a good idea( and I’m not saying it is) Obama really trashed McCain over this. And I believed him.

howdy CTuttle!

late night for you?

Obama and healthcare is better than McCain vs. Healthcare! that’s for sure..

I understand the economics argument, but it’s really a bad idea in every other way.

All three of those books look like excellent reads… (puzzle palace, etc…)

nobody wants to hear that

where did you hear this?

Working up top the mtn…! Still a few more hours till quitting time… (i.e. sleep) ;-)

last november it mattered. not today though, at least imo, because that’s not the choice before us.

Great site – keep up the good work

Bamford’s the expert. Puzzle Palace (just made myself finish it, having started reading it years ago; Bamford’s writing varies from gripping to boring because he gives so many details) was, when it was written, the first time anyone talked about the NSA (aka known as No Such Agency at the time). After awhile, the NSA adopted the book in its orientation for new employees. *g* Among other things, it has a good description of Israel’s attempt to sink the U.S. Liberty.

I admit that I listened to Shadow Factory, which the library happened to have on hand. So I don’t remember it as well as if I read it.

great to “see” you!

Ask BF. I’ve heard it bandied about, but don’t remember where.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

Cindy Sheehan in town tonight. Hope any rain holds off. Cafe Bohemia is mostly outside.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Always a pleasure to see you too…! *g*

I beleive Rachel, Keith and Ed have all discussed the taxation of those benefits… Howard Dean agrees that it’s a horrid idea…! I wish that Dean was O’s CoS instead of Rahmbo…!

Flynt Leverett is trying to grow a beard. It doesn’t suit him.

There are still a few of us who are the ilk of President Prejean (whatever the fuck that means). I’m going to give up on him, though, if he doesn’t drop everything and get an NCAA football playoff, like he promised.

have a great time!

i’m off too….

I defintively have noticed what appears to be professional trolls showing up in 9/11 forums etc., as protectors of the government story or as agent provocateurs of somekind….curious phenomena regardless what one thinks about 9/11.

Aloha, SD and selise…!

Last night on either Keith or Rachel’s show they were showing a clip of Obama making an announcement and saying something about transparency being a hallmark of his administration. I was listening from the kitchen while chopping vegetables when someone on screen commented “that’s one persistent lie” so I rushed from the kitchen to see who this amazing truthteller was. Turns out what they said was “that’s one persisent fly” because of an insect buzzing the Prez.

eCAHN, did you see this…

In huge change, Obama to strip Fed of credit card oversight

LOL. An opportunity lost. I’m happy you didn’t chop your finger by mistake over anger with the lie.

I’m waiting for more info on Obama’s finacial reregulation package. One thing I disagree with is making the FRB the overseer of systemic risk. All regulation at the FRB is a second class citizen. All their interested in is making monetary policy, so as a first pass, I’d take all regulatory authority away from them, not give them more stuff they won’t bother doing. Not to mention the fact that the FRB is entirely opaque. (May be what’s behind the move to give it such authority.)

The part you refer to falls under the creation of another regulatory authority to look after consumers of credit. At first blush, it seems like a good idea, but need more details to see whether it’s lip service or something substantive.

I thought it was health insurance benefits over a certain limit (like >$12K per year) that would be taxed, not all. Can’t remember where I read it, though.

Thanx for the synopsis…! Btw, EW has an excellent new post up…

Dennis Blair’s Spokesperson: The Domestic Surveillance Program Violates the Fourth Amendment

go Dawgs!~

Here’s an article that mentions it, but not the one I originally read which was more definitive about not taxing up to a certain limit.

sorry, but that story from slate makes me see red.

if i were gay, I would be even more pissed than I am as a straight guy. joe at americanblog has it right:

at 5:54 PM, Obama will make what’s supposed to be the big announcement about providing benefits to the partners of federal employees. Now, we all know that’s not really a big announcement, but it’s a one small step in the right direction. It might have been a big deal back in 1996 — during Rahm’s first term. But, the White House is really playing it up in order to quell the furor over DOMA. And, sounds like the brain trust really just slapped this one together. When most people hear the term “benefits,” health care comes to mind. That’s not part of the package. DOMA, which Obama wants to repeal but is defending in the Courts, prevents health benefits for partners.,

So no, it’s way too little, especially after you called gay people a bunch of pedophiles and dogfuckers.

why is it so hard for these people to just do the right thing?

The LAT off-leads, and the NYT fronts, word that Obama will extend benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees.

Obama: “Too bad, so sad about DOMA and DADT, but I have my center-right base to think about. So, here’s a bone. Now stop barking.”

DOMA makes it illegal for Obama to extend health care to same-sex partners of federal workers. There are some other benefits that he could extend.

It’s not just the DOMA statement…. The Obamanoids want you to be distracted from the war funding bill, as well.

Who’s up for YET ANOTHER ROUND of ‘new, better Democrats?’