Good morning, it’s a little nippy here – hot chocolate is in order with a fat slab of sourdough toast, with a kittycat toe warmer.
A number of appearances by WH counterterror guy John Brennan this morning, an anniversarial victory lap for the Obama administration. Not sure I can stomach watching torture maven Jose Rodriquez on 60 Minutes, maybe if he were interviewed behind the bars of Leavenworth (as if!).
Chris Hayes covers the upcoming May Day activities, we’ll be covering that, too, Tuesday – centered at The Dissenter. Fareed has a segment on the stunning Bo Xilai scandal rocking China. And MTP, as masaccio notes, “brings in two clay pigeons for Rachel. Paul Krugman gets a shot at David Walker. Haley Barbour talks about Hispanic voters and the RNC: were any of those people he pardoned Hispanic?” Good question, a notable number were wife killers it seemed to me.
FDL Book Salon today is Green Washed, hosted by the esteemed Riki Ott. Marcy and Culture of Truth will be Virtually Speaking this evening, and tomorrow Lisa’s gonna learn us How to Start a Revolution. Join in.
ABC’s This Week: White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on the killing of bin Laden. Then, as special panel in partnership with University of Virginia’s Miller Center, tackles the critical topic, “America’s Economic Recovery: Is It Built to Last?”, live at the Newseum. Panel: Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and co-chair of Mitt Romney’s California campaign, Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor and host of Current TV’s “The War Room”, Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman and former CEO of Google, David Walker, former Comptroller General and Founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, George Will.
CBS’ Face the Nation: Horse Race 2012, Hispanic voters – Former Mississippi Governor, former Chairman of the Republican Party Haley Barbour and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (one of the National Co-Chairs for the Obama Campaign). John Dickerson with the DNC’s Gabriela Domenzain, the RNC’s Bettina Inclan, Hispanic Leadership Network’s Jennifer Sevilla Korn, Founder of LatinoRebels.com, Julio Ricardo Varela, Actor and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Esai Morales, and America’s Voice Executive Director Frank Sharry. Then, California Gov. Jerry Brown. Plus, “the state of the War on Terror” with TIME Magazine contributor Graham Allison who writes about Pakistan in this week’s TIME; Peter Bergen, author of TIME’s The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden; Washington Post’s David Ignatius, author of a series based on documents uncovered during the raid; and CBS News Senior Correspondent John Miller, who actually interviewed Osama Bin Laden in May 1998.
Chris Hayes: The Occupy movement’s May Day plans, the relationship between the Labor movement and Democrats, and how conservative preference for austerity is working out for the UK economy with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (@repjerrynadler), represents part of Manhattan and Brooklyn, serves on the Judiciary and Transportation & Infrastructure committees; Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten), president of the American Federation of Teachers; Bill Fletcher, co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal; Marina Sitrin, member of the Occupy Wall Street Legal Working Group; Daron Acemoglu, author of Why Nations Fail.
Chris Matthews: One year later: the Osama Bin Laden raid. Is Romney the most conservative nominee since Goldwater? Obama camp says so.
CNN’s State of the Union: Speaker of the House John Boehner. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on the killing of bin Laden. Plus, Governors Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) and Bob McDonnell (R-VA). Then, Time magazine’s Michael Duffy and Nancy Gibbs on their new book “The Presidents Club.”
Fareed Zakaria – GPS: The U.S., China, Pakistan, Mexico and more. Fareed on the “Buffet Rule.” Then how corrupt is China? “The Bo Xilai scandal has gone from being an Agatha Christie story to a Chinese version of Watergate,” with The New Yorker’s Beijing correspondent Evan Osnos. Then, Pakistan’s “Memogate” with Husain Haqqani who explains why he lost his job as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Followed by Mexican immigration. Also, Brent Scowcroft. Finally, Charles Duhigg author of The Power of Habit.
Fox News Sunday: White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on the killing of bin Laden. Then, Joel and Victoria Osteen. Roundtable: Brit Hume, Liz Marlantes, Kimberly Strassel, Charles Lane.
Moyers & Company: Big Money, Big Media, Big Trouble. How big money and big media have coupled to create a ‘Disney World’ of democracy. Plus, a Bill Moyers Essay on Rep. Allen West (R-FL) and McCarthyism.
NBC’s Meet the Press: Robert Gibbs (Obama) and Ed Gillespie (Romney). Roundtable: Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos.
Newsmakers: Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe.
Q & A: Author Blaine Harden discusses his historical narrative “Escape From Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West.” Harden tells the story of a young man named Shin Dong-hyuk, who was born in captivity at prison camp 14, located in central North Korea. Shin escaped in 2005. Harden says that Shin is the only individual actually born in a labor camp to escape…
60 Minutes: Hard Measures – The former head of the CIA’s Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, talks to Lesley Stahl about the “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding, used on high-level al Qaeda detainees. The ex-spy was the man behind those techniques that some would consider torture and he defends their use for the first time. Hooked – Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, uses the brain scans of addicts to show how difficult it is to just say no to drugs and other addictive behaviors, including eating. Morley Safer reports.
To The Contrary: Panelists discuss the importance of the women’s vote as women’s issues cloud the political sphere. Then we turn to Facebook and the lack of women on its board of directors. And, Behind the Headlines: immigration and public schools. We take an in-depth look at the costs of immigration on the education system.
Univision’s Al Punto: Cecilia Muñoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, Mexican Presidential Candidate, the New Alliance Party; State Representative Richard Peña Raymond (D-TX); Jesus Treviño, Blogger HispanicLatino.com.
Virtually Speaking: Marcy Wheeler & Culture of Truth exchange views, commenting on the corporate medias Sunday morning talk shows and their own observations from the past week.
FDL’s Book Salon: Green Washed: Why We Can’t Buy Our Way To A Green Planet. “By examining the major economic sectors of our society, including infrastructure (green housing), consumer goods (green clothing and jewelry), food (the rise of organic), and energy (including solar power and the popularity of the hybrid car), Green Washed: Why We Can’t Buy Our Way to a Green Planet explains that, though greener alternatives are important, we cannot simply buy our way to sustainability. Rather, if it is the volume of our consumption that matters, can we as a society dependent on constantly consuming ever be content with buying less?” Chat with Kendra Pierre-Louis about her new book, hosted by Riki Ott. 5pm ET.
FDL’s Movie Night Monday: How to Start a Revolution “is a portrait of how one man’s thinking has contributed to the liberation of millions of oppressed people living under some of the most brutal dictatorships in the world and how his work in direct action and civil disobedience continues to be used today to topple dictators using the sheer force of nonviolent people power. ” Join host Lisa Derrick and director Ruaridh Arrow. 8pm ET.



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Get ready for the vapid liberal dick-waving fest. In a other day and age, I would have thought it is conservatives’ exclusive privilege. Time to re-read Arundhati Roy’s classic essay “The Algebra of Infinite Justice” :
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1003-09.htm
I’m confused. All week I heard about the importance of:
1) yogurt spilled on the POTUS; and
2) LiLo’s attendance at
The Kabuki Theaterthe WHCD.But the Sunday shows insist on discussing old news (OBL).
I say the federal government should eliminate 95% of college loans for journalism school. The downside? Kids graduate high school and go to work for a local paper. In their hometown, they’ll have friends who will be willing to speak knowledgably “off the record.” And who knows… maybe there will be some actual investigative work that occurs… and maybe some state and local governments will be held accountable? And then after the kids are convinced that journalism is right for them… then they can get the expensive degree and look for that job in the big city.
In the meantime, we can reduce the overall student debt burden, minimize The Kabuki and move away from the reality that FDL is one of the few places remaining that actually identifies, investigates, understands and reports stories.
Sorry for the rant. I saw the HuffPo headline about Kim Kardashian running for Mayor someplace and got particularly annoyed. But I’m done. :)
Another Spymaster, Brennan will tell us what a great and brilliant success the American Stasi and the American Gulag, have been. Brennan will tell us to be very afraid of the sneaky terrorists. The Intelligence Community continues to win the Phony War on Terror. They will need another ten years with a few more False Flag Terror acts committed by the CIA and then victory will be declared. The real target of the spies is American democracy.
The shills of the Obama Administration protect multinational corporations and banks. Instead of destroying the criminals of Goldman Sachs and AIG, Obama has given them more power. Obama is their ally and will use all powers of government and corporations to conceal the 2008 financial fraud. We can expect more Hedge Fund Manager crime, with predatory speculation in food and fuel. The private police force Pinkertons have a new government contract to suppress and destroy American citizens.
The attacks against the Occupy dissenters is escalating.
Not true! Obama said he’s going to prosecute all the financial crimes of the past few years!
(Just as soon as Tim Geithner tells him where / when / who committed a crime. He just hasn’t been able to find any yet. But don’t worry… those indictments
are definitelymay be coming!)Good morning all,
Layer upon layer , lie upon lie until I don’t recognize this “country” anymore.
We now seem like the stage they shot the Godfather on .
Good morning, pups. Today it’s The Pasty Little Putz, Dowd, Friedman, Kristof and Bruni. The Pasty Little Putz addresses “The Incredible Shrinking Country” and babbles that there are “babyloids” and relatives-for-rent in an increasingly childless Japan. MoDo says “Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns,” and looks at a Catholic Church more horrified by nuns advocating for the poor than priests attacking children. The Moustache of Wisdom, in “Words of the Prophets,” says there is a highly revealing graffiti war going on in the streets of Beirut that’s sending interesting messages to Assad and Nasrallah. Mr. Kristof says “We Are All Nuns,” and suggests that we look at the pope and at the nuns he’s cracking down on. Who’s more like Jesus? Mr. Bruni, in “The Imperiled Promise of College,” says student loans are just a piece of the puzzle of higher education.
Here they are.
The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got chocolate croissants we picked up on our errands yesterday. I’m running late because I was out in the garden watering, and it’s time for me to leave for choir practice. Have a great day.
Like Jon Corzine’s daylight robbery and they can’t determine what amount of money, if any, is missing.
Jon’s doing some hard time now, No ?
Saw an online article about a week ago. Headline said they found the $1.2 billion. Article did not say where it is.
Huh?
Guess that passes for reporting nowadays.
Guy on book-tv talking about what made America great. Started out with war on Xmas as an example of why America was no longer great.
Guess that’s what passes for analysis nowadays.
These shows are a perfect example of Charles Pierce’s three premises of Idiot America:
it was snark…
Funny though. On Thursday I went to my local R Town Committee meeting. Since my town has two open seats (Sen. Lieberman & Rep. Murphy who is looking for Lieberman’s seat), I had the opportunity to question both a Senate candidate (Shays, a fmr Congressman of McCain/Feingold, Shays/Meehan fame) and a House candidate (basically unknown).
I mentioned both Corzine and the mortgage fraud settlement whitewashing that’s being used as a decoy to give comfort to We the People that justice has been served. I then asked what each of them intended to do to end the bifurcation of American society and return the rule of law to the MOTU.
The congress candidate really had no answer. Disappointing. And Shays didn’t have a clear answer, but at least he had a real example of where he took on a corrupt judge early in his career… thought he’d be impeached by his own body (CT GA)… and didn’t back down until there was justice. Then he said he’d do the same thing with Harry Reid… demand justice.
Personally, I’m not entirely convinced that he would do that. There’s not many Russ Feingolds and Rand Pauls around who truly don’t care what Harry thinks. But it was nice to hear. And who knows…
Was nice to see Jimmy Kimmel look squarely at Obama and ask him why he’s being such a dick about cannabis.
Happy to have illustrated your general points before you had posted them.
Audience for author referred to in 9 were all nodding their heads in solemn agreement. Yes, that’s why America is no longer great. We’re afraid to say merry Christmas.
Shays is back in politics? Wonders never cease.
He’s trying. Lieberman’s seat has 5 Rs (Shays, Linda McMahon and three underfunded / no name ID candidates) and 5 Ds (Rep. Murphy, a fmr Sec State of CT, a state legislator who is running to be the first Asian-American Senator, a lady who called Murphy a “whore” for taking support from AIPAC and an unemployed guy) going for it.
Frankly, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Shays wins the primary, despite McMahon’s gazillions. And if he wins the primary, it’s possible he could eke out a win in the general.
He kinda annoyed me though when I asked if he would impeach a POTUS for beginning a war with Congress’ vote. Shays said something to the effect of “America has the right to go anywhere in the world.” I was like huh?!
Virtually all Rs and Ds are candy@$$es when it comes to holding the POTUS accountable for war-making.
BTW there will be no accountability for the MOTU from any pol representing hedge funds.
McMahon is the wrestling lady?
What did O say.
Hoping for a huge turnout on IWW Day in Portland. OWS-Portland needs to fire up and show the rest of the country how it’s done, yet again. Hope the weather cooperates. That’s about the only thing Ohbummer and his Chicago misanthropes can’t control at this stage of the UnDemocratic process.
Good Morning, All
How’s everyone doing this morning?
I didn’t watch the Dinner show last night. Folks seemed to enjoy the live blog, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn it on.
I know. :(
This is the guy who defeated Shays in 2008.
Yes. Linda McMahon is married to Vince McMahon. Vince is the one who is normally on TV. They’re probably in Mitt’s money range (less than $1 billion, but still gobs of wealth).
It might be a good idea for organizations such as Occupy, labor unions, consumer advocacy groups, environmental groups etc. to send representatives to Europe to try and learn how they are able to mobilize hundreds of thousands to push back policies that are detrimental to a vast majority of the people.
Good morning, Demi!
I don’t mean to keep quoting Charlie Pierce, although his Esquire blog is one of my must-reads, but he had a great piece on the dinner, essentially taking his fellow journalists to task for stooping that low.
Several Dozen Signs of the Apocalypse
Sandpaper has a better personality than Shays.
I haven’t gone near watching correspondents’ dinner since the year Colbert did it.
The few snippets of O’s routine that were on NPR this morning were LAME.
One nice thing about having no cable now is the ease with which I can pick and choose. I watch everything I want to watch online, including UP with Chris Hayes. And NO commercials!! And I watched the Bill Moyers episode listed above online on Friday night (it is excellent).
It has been literally weeks, maybe months, since I’ve turned on the TV. And I don’t miss it one bit.
Got rid of my TV a month or two ago. A lot of stuff you can replay on computer but I don’t bother.
After o’s drone joke it’s been downhill ever since .
I watched part of the slideshow, but I didn’t recongnize most of the people, so…
It’s a strange event, that’s for sure. I’m trying to think of an appropriate metaphor.
Haven’t gotten rid of mine. I can still get over-the-air channels, and I’ve had it on when there’s been a tornado warning. I can see wanting it if there is some huge national disaster when immediate news is critical. Otherwise, I open the doors of the entertainment center and dust it once in awhile.
All the courtesans appeared to have a grand time.
I don’t know who most of them are, either. But Charlie is spot-on:
Oy guy up on booktv is one who ran O’s campaign. He’s going to tell us how to consume information.
Oh, now that I have my coffee, I forgot to say good morning to Elliot.
Hey, Lady!
I never visit those things here. No disrespect meant at all, but I am simply not interested in pop culture. I guess I’m a dinosaur (but I don’t wear a saddle. LOL).
Yep, that’s a good line. We might have to use that line in other venues. Ha! Like driving on the freeway, or if people start getting uppity.
I cancelled the boob tube four years ago. Since then, I really only watch it when I’m at a hotel for some reason. That’s the perfect dose. It reminds me why I cancelled… to save my money and to save my mind!
One problem though is living overseas. Hulu and others block access to certain countries.
Who played the part of Court Jester? Or did all Talking Heads fill that role?
I don’t understand your pop culture reference to watching O’s campaign manager on booktv.
It’s a rotating position. Everyone gets their opportunity to play.
Bastard actually looked embarrassed. Everyone in the place knew he was an asshole with an indefensible position. We need more public shaming like this.
It has “TV” in the name. LOL. Sorry, didn’t mean to be obscure. I prolly should watch that, cuz I know very well it’s not pop culture. I guess i was making a general observation following from the Corresponedents’ Dinner commentary. Lisa Derrick had a live blog up, and I passed on that, too.
EDiT: I had to Google “Jimmy Kimmell” because I have no idea who he is.
Good on Kimmel.
Here’s the schedule for this weekend. It’s on c-span2 for 48 hours every weekend. You can watch c-span2 on your computer.
They are indiscriminate, though. Wingnuts, as usual, dominate and they are this morning. I did watch a bit of a panel on Black Writers conference yesterday, and though I wasn’t interested in the topic so much, I loved hearing them talk. Several were fiction authors and their command of the language was beautiful.
Obama on medical marijuana:
Except he’s lying. As was pointed out here and elsewhere, Obama wouldn’t need to “nullify congressional law,” because he currently has the legal power to change marijuana’s classification. No Congress involved.
Do you remember the names of any of the fiction authors?
I enjoy the sound of beautiful language too. It can be like music.
Thanks, I might look it up. However, I’m finding I don’t have time (or want to SPEND time) watching lots and lots of stuff online either. I wouldn’t get anything else done.
I see NBC is once again trying to prop up Meet the Press and their all time fail winner David Gregory by putting Maddow on his panel again. Sorry NBC, not buying. Putting the smartest pundit you employ on Meet the Press in order to be patronized by Gregory and his panel Republicans isn’t going to get me to watch.
It was either the 12:45 or the 2:15 panel. I listened to a bit of both.
I often scan the schedule to see if there’s anything that I might learn from. I listen at random when I need to get off my feet for a rest.
Also, all the old programs are archived.
On edit: As with all my initial sources of information, booktv becomes less informative as I’ve learned more. I used to watch it regularly, but now rarely.
Morning, Peg. I feel the same way, although I haven’t watched MTP for a long time. Seems like cheating to have a show with other “journalists”, no, I can’t give them that, other “infotainerheads”.
I looked at the booktv tab at cspan-2, but I didn’t see any panels, just singular books. Oh, well, I’ll live.
I had watched a show a while back where Alice Walker was being interviewed, was why I asked.
Click on my link at 45 and look at yesterday’s schedule.
Oh, my. You laid it out for me, and I missed it.
Thanks. Looks like something to check out this afternoon. Thank you for being patient with me.
Robert (“They Ought to Be Drug Tested”) Gibbs was the speaker at last night’s Michigan Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. A fitting choice for the totally useless MDP.
Anyone want to jump on the cult of personality train?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9xU8cw1JE&feature=youtu.be
The MDP is pathetic. Mark Brewer is a sycophant and courtesan.
Love your choice of words to describe our State Chairman for Life.
Brewer is a symptom of a bigger problem–namely, that the MDP is the equivalent of the Soviet Politburo: aging, inbred, insular, and resistant to change.
A cult of personality. Yep. That’s what it is