The Hollywood Liberal

Calavera Highway: The Story of an All-American Mexican Family
A new documentary reveals the realities faced by millions of people in trans-national communities.

Christian Right Voter Summit Sells Racist ‘Obama Waffles’
The Values Voter Summit hawks a a box of waffle mix emblazoned with a cartoon image of a bug-eyed, toothy, dark-lipped Barack Obama.

Counter-terrorism F-16’s
The Bush administration’s decision to move $230 million of the counter-terrorism funding Congress had approved for Pakistan to pay for upgrades to their Air Force’s F-16 fleet is beginning to raise hackles in Congress. Since the Pakistani’s refuse to use…

Confessore in the Times … Four Spitzer administration officials violated the state’s ethics law when they used the State Police last summer to gather travel documents they hoped would tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, then the State Senate majority leader, according…

SNL - Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton

Saturday Night Live. I can’t really believe that I’m typing Saturday Night Live. I think it can be argued that Saturday Night Live has not been funny since the early 1980s. Remember Eddie Murphy. So, I haven’t seen the show in a very long time. My mother, yes my mother, told me about this skit with Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. She said it was hilarious. She was right. (I always listen to my mother :-))

Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike?s devastation.
Yesterday in a local report on KTRK-TV in Houston, TX, reporter Wayne Dolcefino revealed that media have been blocked from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation. In a press conference, Dolcefino pressed Gov. Rick Perry on why media aren’t even allowed to fly over parts of Galveston Island, noting that media access was far better in Mississippi […]

Yesterday in a local report on KTRK-TV in Houston, TX, reporter Wayne Dolcefino revealed that media have been blocked from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation. In a press conference, Dolcefino pressed Gov. Rick Perry on why media aren’t even allowed to fly over parts of Galveston Island, noting that media access was far better in Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Perry tried to brush off Dolcefino’s concerns, but eventually passed blame to federal officials:

DOLCEFINO: That is unprecedented and quite honestly not appropriate because it’s our job to inform people. Why can’t we go to Bolivar and West End?

PERRY: I think when the local officials decide it was appropriate, whether it’s the media or first responders or what have you. The fact of the matter, that is actually a local decision, Wayne, that is made by the local county judge and by the mayor of those —

DOLCEFINO: They don’t control that area.

PERRY: Last time, the state of Texas doesn’t even.

DOLCEFINO: So it’s the federal government?

PERRY: I don’t know.

Watch it:

(HT: TP reader PD)

Transcript: (more…)

It’s Not Just Palin — Its the Message
There is no question that John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has changed the dynamic of the 2008 Presidential campaign, moved the current wave of polling to the GOP’s favor, and altered the terrain the rest of the election will likely be fought on. The Obama campaign’s ability to recognize the shifting ground, understand that it is real, and adjust accordingly will determine the outcome. And the outcome, for the first time, is in doubt. The Obama campaign went into the Democratic National Convention believing that the race would be fought out on Washington experience and “more of the same” vs change. This was essentially the same frame of the race the Obama camp had sustained for the first 16 months or so of the nominating fight with New York Senator Hillary Clinton. It worked in the primaries until the Clinton campaign shifted from “35 years of experience” to a much more “woman for change” oriented message in the later stages of the fight and nearly came back to win the nomination.