Colbert at his most scathing
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Blagojevich dishes dirt on those who ousted him
So?
Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich is lashing out at the Illinois lawmakers who removed him from office, calling them drunkards and adulterers who don't know how to do their jobs.
Blagojevich's former colleagues and close associates are laughing off the latest comments as those of a desperate man - but he could make people nervous if he starts naming names as federal prosecutors prepare to indict him on corruption charges.
By DEANNA BELLANDI Associated Press Writer
Singer-actress Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams engaged
Huh?
Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Singer-actress Mandy Moore and rock singer Ryan Adams are engaged.
Moore's publicist Jillian Fowkes confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that the two are planning to wed. No details were announced.
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
How Stupid Can One Man Be?
Isn't it reasonable to assume that someone with a TV show knows that there is such a thing as video tape (if not digital video)?
Stewart does what Olberman can never quite achieve:
Stewart does what Olberman can never quite achieve:
Historical
First 'New Media' question at a presidential news conference not to come from a part-time male prostitute.
Looking Forward - Schadenfreude Edition
TPM
Poll: Lieberman Would Lose 2012 Re-Election In Landslide
If Joe Lieberman decides to run for a fifth term in 2012, a new Quinnipiac poll suggests that it may be a lost cause.The new poll tests Lieberman as an independent against Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. The numbers: Blumenthal 58%, Lieberman 30%.
Yikes.
Lieberman's active campaigning against the Democratic Party last year hasn't won him too many friends back home. Democrats go for Blumenthal by 83%-9%, and independents are for Blumenthal 55%-29%. Lieberman is the de facto Republican nominee in this match, and with GOP voters he scores 67%-23% over Blumenthal.
Lieberman's job approval is also at only 45%, with 48% disapproving. Among Democrats that's a 21%-70% rating, Republicans 75%-20%, while independents give him a narrow approval of 48%-46%.
A lot can happen in four years, but right now it doesn't look like Lieberman has too many options. He can't run as a Democrat, he would still lose as a Republican, and there's no reason to believe that staying as an independent will provide much more of an opportunity.
A Rare Moment Of Clarity
Scarborough, who I haven't been able to watch since the election has an aha moment
Monday, February 09, 2009
Idiot
Mr Coalition Builder
Politico:
Politico:
Steele calls for "Bling, Bling"-free stimulus
Just ran into new RNC Chairman Michael Steele who watched President Obama's town hall in Indiana and wasn't impressed.
The Obama-backed stimulus, he said, "is just a wish list from a lot of people who have been on the sidelines for years.. to get a little bling, bling."
You Just Keep That Up, OK?
Political animal:
IT'S NOT JUST GALLUP.... We talked earlier about the new Gallup poll, which shows widespread support for President Obama's handling of the stimulus-bill effort, and opposition to the conduct of congressional Republicans. As it turns out, a new CNN poll found similar results.
Seventy-six percent of those quesioned [sic] in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday give President Obama a thumbs-up when it comes to the way he's performing his duties, with 23 percent disapproving of the way Obama's handling his job as president.
The stimulus package isn't as popular as the president, but the poll found 54% support the bill -- while self-identified Dems and independents back the measure, the overall number is dragged down by Republicans -- and a combined 64% believe the legislation will help the economy. On the flip side, however, GOP talking points have apparently convinced a majority of Americans (54%) that the package costs too much, which is unfortunate, since the opposite is true.
Nevertheless, while Republican lawmakers are pleased with themselves for their conduct of late, the electorate seems less impressed.
Three out of four say that President Obama is doing enough to cooperate with Republicans in Congress, but only 39 percent feel that congressional Republicans are cooperating enough with the President.
Six out of ten approve of the way Democratic leaders in Congress are handling their jobs. But only 44 percent of those questioned approve of the way Republican leaders in Congress are performing.
Knowing Which Cheek Is Cocoa-Buttered
Gov. Crist (R-FL) is joining Obama at his Stimulus Bill even in Florida.
Troubled Ted
A Colorado Springs bail bondsman and sometime bounty hunter who has been investigating New Life Church and Ted Haggard for several years appeared on Michelangelo Signorile's 'The Gist' late on Friday and [reported] that he now has information on ten more cases of sexual misconduct on the part of Ted Haggard and that three of these involve minors. He also said that New Life Church had suppressed from the media an earlier case of a pastor at the church (which has many pastors under the senior pastor) who was convicted of sexual assault against a child under the age of 15 and got off easy with help from the church, only to later have his probation revoked. The convicted pastor then illegally left the country, he said, and he speculates that New Life Church may have helped him do so.
Afraid Of No One
ThinkProgress:
Today, President Obama hosted a town hall meeting in Elkhart, IN — which faces the nation’s fastest-rising unemployment rate — to promote his recovery and reinvestment plan. As the Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin notes, Obama traveled to relatively unfriendly territory: Obama lost the county to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 44 percent to 56 percent. Despite that fact, the White House did not screen its audience, who had the chance to ask the president questions:
In a dramatic contrast to former President Bush’s town-hall meetings — which were held almost exclusively in party strongholds, with tickets distributed primarily to supporters — it was first-come, first-served in Elkhart on Saturday [when tickets were distributed]. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained on Friday: “I’ve watched the President do town halls from 2004 through 2008, and the audience has never been hand-picked, and neither have the questions. And we’re not going to start any of that on Monday.”
What’s more, Obama invited two critics of his package along for the Air Force One ride to Indiana: Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who both voted against the bill.
The town hall is just the latest way Obama is signaling a clean break from George Bush, who aggressively screened his audience members, even requiring volunteer service or loyalty oaths before being allowed to attend his events.
Jumped The Shark
The Libertarians see things clearly
Political Animal notes:
I think Republicans have acted (and prematurely popped open champagne) on two assumptions that aren’t true right now.The first is that voters rejected them in 2006 and 2008 because they spent too much money; the subtext is that voters oppose big government spending, and reward the party that cuts it down. This seems like a tautological argument that’s not backed up by history — how much did former President Ronald Reagan cut spending, after all? The second false assumption is that Republicans are winning the spin war because their arguments are leading newspaper articles, columns and TV broadcasts. There’s a Republican senator or congressman making the anti-stimulus case on cable at basically any moment.
The problem: So what? If a tree falls down during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” does it make a sound? Americans don’t actually watch these shows, and they’re not coloring their opinions of the president.
As DougJ aptly explained, "I've always thought ... that some day the Republican party would become so insane that it would begin to frighten big business. That day may have arrived."
True To His Convictions
"The political debate is now so skewed, so limited, so distorted... What if a politician were to see his job as that of an organizer, as part teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but who educates them about the real choices before them? As an elected public official, for instance, I could bring church and community leaders together easier than I could as a community organizer or lawyer. We would come together to form concrete economic development strategies, take advantage of existing laws and structures, and create bridges and bonds within all sectors of the community. We must form grass-root structures that would hold me and other elected officials more accountable for their actions," - Barack Obama, 1995.
The Problem With One-Party Rule
Here in Chicago, there is no one to call bullshit when the mayor just speaks foolishness:
Mayor Richard Daley today insisted that no tax money would be used to pay for the city to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and said funding from the private sector and federal dollars for security and infrastructure would cover the costs.
[...]"Tax money isn't paying for it," Daley told reporters this morning at an unrelated event. "The federal government pays for security, which is the highest cost of the Olympics ... The other thing they pay for is infrastructure ... There's no city tax money whatsoever ... We are very strong in that position ... in the regard to having that be sponsored by the private sector and others."
Blossom Dearie, 1926 - 2009
For GT12, every year is marked by some discovery of a new (to us) artist. Somebody who who's presence in our record collection goes from zero to comprehensive in the course of a few months. People like Nina Simone, Anita O'Day and Karrin Allyson.
2004 was the year of Blossom Dearie.
From the New York Times, this morning:
2004 was the year of Blossom Dearie.
From the New York Times, this morning:
Blossom Dearie, the jazz pixie with a little-girl voice and pageboy haircut who was a fixture in New York and London nightclubs for decades, died on Saturday at her apartment in Greenwich Village. She was 82. Blossom Dearie, the jazz pixie with a little-girl voice and pageboy haircut who was a fixture in New York and London nightclubs for decades, died on Saturday at her apartment in Greenwich Village. She was 82.
A singer, pianist and songwriter with an independent spirit who zealously guarded her privacy, Ms. Dearie pursued a singular career that blurred the line between jazz and cabaret. An interpretive minimalist with caviar taste in songs and musicians, she was a genre unto herself. Rarely raising her sly, kittenish voice, Ms. Dearie confided song lyrics in a playful style below whose surface layers of insinuation lurked. Her cheery style influenced many younger jazz and cabaret singers, most notably Stacey Kent and the singer and pianist Daryl Sherman.
But just under her fey camouflage lay a needling wit. If you listened closely, you could hear the scathing contempt she brought to one of her signature songs, “I’m Hip,” the Dave Frishberg-Bob Dorough demolition of a namedropping bohemian poseur. Ms. Dearie was for years closely associated with Mr. Frishberg and Mr. Dorough. It was Mr. Frishberg who wrote another of her perennials, “Peel Me a Grape.” Dearie was for years closely associated with Mr. Frishberg and Mr. Dorough. It was Mr. Frishberg who wrote another of her perennials, “Peel Me a Grape.”
Born Marguerite Blossom Dearie in East Durham, N.Y., on April 29, 1926, she was a classically trained pianist who switched to jazz after joining a high school band. Moving to New York City in the mid-1940s, she sang with the Blue Flames, a vocal group attached to the Woody Herman band, and with Alvino Rey’s band before embarking on a solo career.
Traveling to Paris in 1952, she joined the Blue Stars, a vocal octet that recorded a hit version of “Lullaby of Birdland.” While there she shared quarters with the jazz singer Annie Ross and met the Belgian flutist and saxophonist Bobby Jaspar, to whom she was briefly married.
She also met Norman Granz, the owner of Verve Records, who signed her to a six-album contract. All six Verve albums — “Blossom Dearie” (1956), “Give Him the Ooh-La-La” (1957), “Once Upon a Summertime” (1958), “Sings Comden and Green” (1959), “My Gentleman Friend” (1959) and “Soubrette Sings Broadway Hit Songs”(1960) — are today regarded as cult classics.
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